The Power of the Ancients
by Orange Headphones
Summary: Eleven items, three villains, and one old prophecy cause massive trouble for the Smash Brothers World. My first attempt at a Melee story.
1. The Plan

Legend speaks of eleven mystical items whose powers depend on the person who wields them. These eleven mystical items once fell into the wrong hands and chaos ensued, but luckily before any damage was done, the evil was scattered away, but three thousand years, and a lack of communication brings us to this story of triumph, destruction, and fear.

Things all started with the trio of terror of the Smash Brothers World. Mewtwo, Bowser, and Ganondorf were gathered in their fortress, and were plotting a way to dominate the world yet again.

"You see," Mewtwo began, "When we each tried to take over our respective worlds on our own, we each failed miserably, but came so close to winning."

An annoyed and cocky Ganondorf responded with, "What's your point? We know we failed before, and that's why we kept trying and getting closer each and every time."

"You fool," Mewtwo rebuked, "We need to find a new way other than brute force to rule the world. If that were the answer to everything, then Bowser over here would rule the world."

With that, the dimwitted, but amazingly strong Koopa's attention was gathered. In an angered tone he asked, "Hey, I don't just use my strength to my advantage; I use my brain, even though you two seem to think that it doesn't exist. I'm the King of the Koopas for a reason, because I can use all of my assets."

"That's not the point anyways." Mewtwo screeched in an attempt to silence the now rowdy crowd of Bowser and Ganondorf. "What I am trying to tell you is that I may have a new attempt to silence the fools that have dominated us. Even with all of their comrades, I have a plan to stop them."

"And what's that?" asked a somewhat bored Ganondorf who really didn't realize the power of the brain that Mewtwo possessed.

"Have you ever heard of the legend of the mystical items of the lands?" Mewtwo asked them.

"No," was the response that Ganondorf and Bowser gave to Mewtwo in interest and curiosity.

Mewtwo began, "Well, legend has it that scattered around the Smash Brothers World there are eleven items of mystical powers that can rule the world if they are all acquired. They are a jetpack that allows the ability of flight, a crown that increases one's brainpower, a facemask that protects the face but also increases military strategies, a shield that's power is determined by how evil the wielder is, leg guards that increase stamina and provide stability in difficult times, speed boots that allow limited flight and super speed, a sword that is both flexible and deadly, a cannon that is both portable and powerful, and a neck guard that maintains calmness in difficult times and doubles as protection for the neck."

Bowser then immediately questioned Mewtwo and said, "I only counted nine of them, what about the other two of them?"

"Glad you can count," Mewtwo started, "The other two are items that we have already encountered. Or I should say they are items that you two have encountered."

Bowser's face went pale, "You don't mean-"

"Yes, I am talking about your precious Star Rod from Star Haven, and to you Ganondorf, I mean that the item that you have encountered is-"

"Yeah, I know," Ganondorf started, "The dark triangle, which is also known as the heart of evil, which can never be destroyed. I know."

"Now as I was saying," Mewtwo said as he returned to the floor, "is that we must find a way to acquire these items in any way, shape, or form. Once we have the items, we will be able to conquer the entire world." After that, evil laughter ensued from the demented and brilliant trio of terror.


	2. Phase 1

Meanwhile, the heroes of the Smash Brothers World were gathered together with a few exceptions. Yoshi had to watch the island, and Mr. Game and Watch didn't get the message that Mario and company had sent out. The remaining twenty comrades were gathered together to watch a movie in a gigantic theatre. Suddenly, the theatre started to shake as if it had been struck with a hammer. Mario, being the hero that he is decided to check out what was happening.

As the overall clad plumber reached the top of the theatre found a sight that he did not expect to see. The sight was Mr. Game and Watch banging at the building. Mario was puzzled at first, but then lunged into battle, right on top of Fourside.

The battle started with Mario and Mr. Game and Watch at opposite ends of the stage. Mario ran and jumped his way over to Mr. Game and Watch, and delivered a bevy of kicks to the face to send him sprawling. Mr. Game and Watch then returned to his feet and decided to use his hammer, and it came out a meager 1, which did little damage to Mario. Mario quickly became annoyed with Mr. Game and Watch, and decided to use some of his smash attacks. Mario put his hands together and launched them and a fireball at Mr. Game and Watch at the same exact moment at close range. Needless to say, Mr. Game and Watch, being a character of little stamina flew off into the sky, never to be seen by Mario and Company again.

Mr. Game and Watch, after his defeat decided to return to his superiors. He turned up in the secret lair of the trio of terror. Just after he had entered the lair, he blew up. Bowser walked over to the entrance, and said to himself, "I shouldn't have made that one, because I knew that it wasn't going to work. I shouldn't have tried to copy he who may be the weakest character I know of, but then again I had no choice. I knew that Yoshi and Mario were on very friendly terms, and Mr. Game and Watch was the only one besides the other two and me who weren't there."

Mewtwo then walked in on Bowser and his ramblings. He then said to Bowser, "So I take it that the copy was a success."

Bowser quickly responded with, "Um, yeah it did successfully end up being a copy of Mr. Game and Watch, but he was beaten."

"Well," Mewtwo responded, "It was just a test run to see if the robot copy would work. Luckily Mario launched that thing all the way over here."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. How goes the plans on the items?"

"Tomorrow we invade Mute City and the Big Blue in search of the jetpack."

"Excellent. How will we do it?"

"Well, you will distract Capitan Falcon, and then Ganondorf and I will go and eliminate anyone who stands in our way as we make our way to the first mystical item."

"Wonderful, I can't wait."

Back with Mario, everyone had gone home, and Mario was just discussing the events with his taller and thinner brother Luigi, who was clad in green and overalls.

"Luigi, I don't know what's going on."

"I hear you brother, but your guess is as good as mine."

"I just don't know why Mr. Game and Watch would just up and attack us. He shouldn't have gotten any message of what we were doing."

"All I can say is for you to relax. I think you are wondering too much about this Mario."

"Maybe you're right Luigi, but I can't help but think that something is wrong." If only Mario knew how right he was.

It was a slow day in Mute City. The next F-Zero race wasn't for a while, and Capitan Falcon was just walking around all alone. All of a sudden, Bowser dropped from the sky and challenged Capitan Falcon to a fight. Capitan Falcon gladly accepted, because he had nothing better to do.

Early on, Capitan Falcon looked to have the upper hand on Bowser having delivered a mighty Falcon Punch right in Bowser's gut. Bowser went back a few steps, but then evened the score by just crushing Capitan Falcon under his massive bulk. Capitan Falcon could feel his back crack under the Koopa King. Capitan Falcon eventually got out from under Bowser, and was tired. He was out late last night, and he had just suffered a hefty blow from a mighty opponent. Capitan Falcon then used a quick Falcon Kick to knock Bowser off of his feet, and then get to the other side of him.

Before Bowser knew what hit him, he was being nailed by a bevy of punches in the back of the shell. Bowser knocked Capitan Falcon off with a spin of his shell. Capitan Falcon hung on the ledge of the platform keeping him from eminent destruction in Mute City. Bowser then let loose a blast of fire, which in turn knocked Capitan Falcon off of the edge. However, Capitan Falcon jumped in midair and with a last burst of strength, lunged for Bowser, and sent him a few feet off. Bowser approached the Capitan one last time, because Capitan Falcon shouted, "FALCON PUNCH!" as he sent Bowser flying. Capitan Falcon then collapsed.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo and Ganondorf had reached the jetpack, and as Mewtwo grabbed the item, a dark flashing sensation came over him. For a split second, Mewtwo caught a glimpse at a figure composed entirely of the eleven items that the terrible trio searched for. A slight chill ran down his spine, but then he and his cohort returned to base. Bowser had already been blasted there with an all-out Falcon Punch.

"Mission accomplished boys," Mewtwo cheered toward his two comrades. In their minds it was one down, and ten to go. Little did they know of the disaster that they were releasing.

Capitan Falcon, having collapsed, was weak but still able to make a call to Mario. Mario picked up the receiver and started with a hello. Capitan Falcon then burst into his point. "Mario, there is no time for questions but something horrible has happened. The jetpack which I swore to protect has been stolen, and the other ten items are in jeopardy." Mario was a tad confused by this, and asked Capitan Falcon what he was talking about. Capitan Falcon continued, "The eleven mystical items harness unbelievable power, but the powers are of evils and they must be protected. If a being gathers all of these items in their possession, all hell will break loose. Gather yourself a fivesome, for it is in the legend that a fivesome will destroy the evil released by the items."

Mario hung up the phone and said to Luigi, "Come on Luigi, we must gather up three other comrades to protect the world from evil." Luigi just nodded and followed his brother.


	3. Phase 2 and Resistance

The trio of terror then decided that it would be a good idea to split up so they can each gather three items on their own. Bowser decided to go after the Star Rod, considering he had gotten it before, Ganondorf went after the Dark Triangle for the same reasons as Bowser, and Mewtwo went after the shield.

Mario decided to travel and get some other comrades for the fivesome. He already had the other three in mind and they were Link, Samus, and Donkey Kong.

Traveling out from Onett, the two of them decided that first they would go after Link, considering that he was the ally that would prove to be the hardest to find. From Onett, they traveled to Fourside, to Yoshi's Story, to Yoshi's Island with no problem.

Their first real threat came when they arrived in Termina Great Bay. The Mario Brothers were ambushed as soon as they stepped upon the platform in front of the laboratory.

Young Link appeared, but it seemed that it was not him. The boy had a blank white look in his eyes. Saying nothing, he drew his sword and knocked Luigi a ways away from the fight.

Mario clenched his fists, and decided he had to fight Young Link. Attacking his brother was just unforgivable. The youth just jumped into the fight, emotionless.

Mario, still enraged, decided to deliver a number of punches and kicks to Young Link, but that had been anticipated. Instead of getting one hit in, Young Link was able to instead deliver a slash to Mario, hurting him somewhat. Mario then decided to retreat somewhat, and gather his wits to continue to fight effectively.

From a distance, Mario decided to launch fireballs at Young Link, who just stood waiting, as if a statue. The youth did receive some damage from those strikes, but he paid no heed to whatever pain it incurred. Instead, he slowly walked to Mario, and took a swing at his head.

By the last hair on his moustache, Mario avoided the deadly strike. In the ensuing seconds, Mario delivered a punch to the gut of Young Link. The white eyes did not change one shade, though his body showed a slight pain.

Then Mario quickly struck with a rapid assault of weaker punches and kicks. As the damage accrued, Young Link continued to show no pain in his expressions. His eyes remained as unchanging as stone.

Finally, the plumber clad in overalls delivered his finishing blow, a shot to the head with both feet. After this blow, Young Link was launched to the surrounding beach where Luigi was.

When Mario went to his brother, he found his brother cowering with his head in the sand. Mario was a bit puzzled as to what could have scared Luigi that much. Then, he saw it. Where Young Link lay, there was no head attached to the body; it laid a ways away on the sand.

Upon further examination, Mario found that this was not Young Link, but instead a robot, for there was no blood, only sparks of a failed machine. He tapped his brother on the shoulder, but he wouldn't leave the sand. Mario then pulled his head out of the sand and they journeyed on to find Link.

Meanwhile, Link was busy with another fight of his own. Ganondorf had returned to Hyrule, and Link found him stealing the Dark Triangle. However, Ganondorf seemed not himself when Link found him, it seems he had a vision for a moment before anything happened. Before Ganondorf could deliver a finishing blow to Link, a beeping noise could be heard emitting from him.

"Damn," he cursed under his breath. Quickly he kicked Link, and then fled back to his base. Two for sure were down, and nine remained to be gathered. Chaos was beginning to rear its ugly head in one of its most deadly forms.

Waiting at the base, Ganondorf mused over what had just happened. 'Hmm,' he began to think, 'today I've acquired the Dark Triangle, one of these eleven "mystical" items. Unlike last time, there was a vision of an evil being attached to it. All I remember is that the Dark Triangle was his heart. I wonder if we'll be able to gather all eleven of these items, the Young Link robot was destroyed only a day after we issued it to prevent Hyrule from being invaded by outsiders trying to conquer our plan. Ah well, I will succeed, for I am Ganondorf.'

During this discourse, Bowser, with his Star Rod, underwent this same vision. What he saw of it was that the Star Rod was the neck of this beast. The Koopa King shuddered for a moment, nothing seemed that powerful.

In that moment he tried to back away, but when he turned around he saw three faces glaring at him: Dr. Mario, Peach, and Yoshi. In the Mushroom Kingdom, the three of them fought.

Bowser shook his head to clear his mind; then, he taunted the three of them. He decided not to show them the Star Rod; he shouldn't need to use it yet. Instead, he stayed in his corner and decided to show them a fair fight.

Quickly they mobbed him. In his defense, Bowser doused them with his flaming breath. Then he lowered his horns into Peach and Yoshi, sending them a little ways away. As for Dr. Mario, Bowser decided to throw him into the other two, sending Peach further back, but not yet out.

Growing tired of waiting, Bowser chased after the three of them and swiped at them with his sharp claws. Dr. Mario and Peach went high in the air while Yoshi was grabbed by his claws. Poor Yoshi was thrown into the ground and then crushed under the weight of Bowser.

The exasperated creature managed to survive, but had become unfit for battle: two left. Bowser questioned who he should remove from battle next, Dr. Mario or Peach. As they both rushed after him, to try and attack him, he figured to kill two birds with one stone; he attacked both at once, sending both of them flying.

A bit tired, the Koopa king returned to his base, where Ganondorf waited. Along the way, he asked himself similar questions to the ones that Ganondorf had asked himself on his way back to the base. Unlike Ganondorf, Bowser was a bit uncertain as to their success and how likely it was. Still, he was a bit confused as to the outcome these items would cause.

Regardless, at that time, Mario and Luigi had finally entered Hyrule, looking for Link. They met up with the swordsman at Hyrule Temple, as would be expected. The young man was relentlessly practicing his sword fighting skills. He acknowledged the two of them with a simple nod and raise of his right hand with two fingers extended upward.

The two of them told him of their mission, and how they needed him. Simply, Link agreed to fight alongside them; after all, he had to reclaim the Dark Triangle and scatter it yet again.

So the three of them left Hyrule after Link said a quick goodbye to Zelda, hoping she would be all right. Alas, this was not the way things were to turn out. Waiting in the shadows of the temple was Mewtwo, with his newly acquired shield. Before Zelda knew what hit her, she was captured and taken back to his base.

When Mewtwo arrived at the base with Zelda in tow, Bowser and Ganondorf were simply stunned. Mewtwo, the brains behind this operation had brought a prisoner to the base, the base that's location was then unknown.

Ganondorf decided to speak up first, saying, "Why did you bring her here?"

Smirking, Mewtwo responded, "She's a prisoner."

Sarcastically, Bowser continued, "No really, I never thought that's what she'd be."

Mewtwo, realizing that the two of them didn't understand what this prisoner would mean to them, told them, "She's bait. Once we've got all the items, we need to lure the others here so that we can obliterate them."

The two other members of the trio nodded in agreement; they realized the point Mewtwo had to this plan. However, they wondered how they would keep her a prisoner. Would one of them have to stay behind and watch her? Would she be left alone? If so, how would she be imprisoned?

Meanwhile, Link and the Mario Brothers continued on their way back to reach their next destination and hopefully the next member of their group in their attempt to be the light in the dark prophecy: Donkey Kong. The monkey was located in Jungle Japes, conveniently the only way to get to Samus, the final member they would be chasing.

Traveling though the vast expanse of the Kongo Jungle, the three heroes ended up in Jungle Japes, the location the mighty Donkey Kong called home. In the vast jungle he refused to join the party that Mario was trying to assemble without a fight from the overall-clad plumber himself. Knowing that he had to, Mario agreed to fight Donkey Kong to gather the fourth member of their squad necessary to destroy the darkness that the items their foes were acquiring. If it had to be done, then it would be done by this group of fighters that never gave into pressure with their backs to the wall.

As in every fight prior, Donkey Kong had an air of confidence about him, the one thing that always allowed the ape to continue to fight despite the odds. This was increased by Mario's sense of necessity in gathering Donkey Kong to join their team. He was necessary and must be brought in to fight. Failure would mean that the team of five would not be assembled. That failure couldn't occur.


	4. Completing the Group

The two fighters assumed their fighting stances and began their brawl. Mario, despite the pressure, started out offensively with a bevy of punches and kicks. When that small barrage was over, he delivered one of his smash attacks, sending Donkey Kong a little ways away.

Unfortunately that blast had awakened the temper of the great ape. Now he charged at Mario, delivering his own bevy of attacks. These attacks did greater damage to Mario, simply because of Donkey Kong's strength. However, Donkey Kong didn't use a smash attack to send Mario a ways away. Instead he quickly and rapidly pounded the ground with his hands. While the attack didn't finish off Mario, it continued to pile up damage on the plumber. After he felt he had accumulated enough damage to Mario, Donkey Kong delivered a smash attack, sending him flying, seemingly to the end of the fight.

However, Mario wouldn't crumble that easily. Once he first had the ability to recover, he executed his double up and just managed to grasp the edge of the platform with his Super Jump Punch, clutching on for dear life. That fight, at that time, seemed heavily in DK's favor, but that did not include Mario's necessity to win.

Mario was not ready to fail, but he wasn't stupid either. He knew that if he was close enough to DK, he wouldn't be able to escape enough of his close range attacks. He would have to fight cautiously, yet effectively. It wouldn't be easy, as Donkey Kong would likely want to close the distance between them quickly and allow him to make the finishing blow with his fist.

So, to defend himself, Mario decided that he would use his fireballs from long range to try and do some gradual damage to DK. At first, it worked, but after a short stint, Donkey Kong ran in the general direction of Mario, tired of the long range attack that he was firing.

To evade the charge of the ape, Mario jumped, effectively moving behind his foe. From behind him, Mario delivered one of his smash attacks from behind, sending Donkey Kong flying to the edge of the stage they were fighting on.

Despite the damage that was setting in, Donkey Kong reared back and ambushed Mario. Unlike last time, Mario couldn't end up dodging DK's barrage of attacks. The punches and kicks eventually delivered great damage to Mario, nearly causing him to be unable to fight.

From this state, Mario refused to stop fighting and delivered a kick to DK's head to stop the barrage of attacks from continuing. Effectively, Mario leapt a few yards backwards to create a little breathing room.

As the monkey charged, Mario prepared his smash attack yet again to try and send him flying. While Mario's attack managed to connect with Donkey Kong, DK's attack also managed to connect with Mario. With the strength of both attacks, Mario and Donkey Kong both were sent flying off the field of battle they had agreed upon. The match had ended in an effective stalemate.

When the two fighters both returned to consciousness, Donkey Kong agreed to join their group and to become the fourth member of their team that Captain Falcon had spoken of. With their fourth member, the small group set out for Brinstar and the Brinstar Depths, where they hoped that they would encounter Samus.

As the group arrived on the Brinstar fighting stage, they saw that Samus was nowhere to be found. Above the hazardous lava pit, the group was faced with utter frustration. Before any true fight could be started, Luigi asked if they had tried Brinstar Depths to find her.

The others quickly agreed with the green-clad plumber. If she were not on the surface, Samus was likely exploring the depths of the planet, trying to rid it of the dark influence that protruded from it.

As expected, the group found Samus attempting to destroy Kraid, the infernal foe of the area. As she fired what would have been the final shot, she altered her shot slightly out of shock of having heard others enter the area. When she looked over and saw who was there, she attacked the one who had made the noise that caused her to miss: Luigi.

However, before Samus could attack Luigi, Link stepped in the way of the attack, wishing to defend his teammate. His shield was able to deflect Samus' original attack: a missile launched at Luigi's head.

The green swordsman finally had his chance to fight a complete battle, as Ganondorf had run away during his fight with Link. He drew his sword and flew into battle, determined and ready to fight.

Upon the rotating rock mass, Link first started offensively, attacking using a running sword slash on Samus and effectively getting behind her. From there he attempted a smash attack with his sword to send Samus away from him. However, Samus blocked this attack and then fired a missile at close range and then effectively charged up her charge beam to use for later.

Getting to his feet, Link noticed that the arena was rotating, leaving Link's only hope to survive dependant upon whether or not he could reach the small platform in front of him. Jumping at the last second, he executed his double jump and launched his hookshot towards the edge of the platform and was able to grapple to the side of it and pull himself up.

However, soon after Link had managed to gather his wits, Samus was upon him, hitting him squarely in the jaw with her arm cannon, knocking him back a few steps. Link retaliated with a few swings of his sword, knocking Samus back and off of the small platform.

Unfortunately for Link, the arena had again rotated so that Samus returned to the main platform of the arena. Link quickly followed suit, using his downthrust on her helmet, effectively causing her to sustain significant damage. To continue his assault, Link spun his sword quickly, causing Samus to spin away from Link when his attack struck.

However, Samus wouldn't surrender that easily, as she delivered her charge beam blast upon Link. With the speed of the blast, Link found himself unable to avoid it, subsequently being thrown to the edge of the platform. Samus then charged after Link and proceeded to drop a few morph ball bombs upon him, causing further damage.

As Link got to his feet, he swiped his sword and gave him a little breathing room from Samus. He then notched an arrow in his bow and fired it at her. Through her armor, the shot did little damage, but somehow stopped her momentarily. Link seized the opportunity and struck Samus with a barrage of stabs from the Master Sword.

It was apparent to the other four that Link was delivering significant damage to Samus, but it was also apparent that Link was starting to tire in this fight. Link had often gone on long quests with little rest, but after fighting a foe like Ganondorf and being struck with an angry Samus' attacks, he was starting to show that he could indeed be beaten. However, Samus had not noticed it.

As the two broke from that attack, they stood, both very weak from battle. Neither seemed able to give in. Samus, while no longer furious at the group of travelers that had prevented her from finishing her objective, continued to fight, knowing it was her instinct to do battle with whoever challenged her. Link, on the other hand, continued to fight thinking that Samus would attack his group the moment he let his guard down.

Both charged, knowing they only had one last strike left to take, one last strike until defeat. Samus readied and aimed a missile, while Link threw his boomerang to try and cancel it out. Both attacks canceled each other out, leaving the fighters in the same predicament.

Seeing that they would cancel out the projectile attacks, the two fighters charged at each other, packing a strong attack to hit the other with. Link leapt in the air, while Samus did likewise. Link attempted to use his downthrust again as Samus attempted to knock Link out of the air with her arm cannon being thrust into the air. Both attacks canceled each other out, but in the interim, Link delivered a swipe to Samus' back, ending the brawl.

Both collapsed on the rotating rock and were rescued by the Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. When the two combatants came to consciousness, they had returned to Jungle Japes. Still somewhat weakened, the two could only inquire about what had happened to them.

After hearing about what the other four were after, Samus agreed to join the group and complete it. To her it seemed a good cause to join and she was amply ready to do whatever it would take to do the world good.

Now that the party of five had been assembled, it was time for them to try and find out where these items were being kept and wherever Mewtwo, Bowser, and Ganondorf were hiding out and formulating their master plan. They believed they could do it.


	5. Luigi Shows His Stuff

All the while, the trio opposed to the fivesome continued their mission. Mewtwo, being the quickest of the three, had decided to pursue the boots, hidden near Termina's Great Bay.

Mewtwo quickly realized that he should also kidnap Young Link while he was in the area. Fittingly enough, Young Link was the one guarding the boots Mewtwo requested. He thought, 'This should be an easy one,' and darkly chuckled.

Upon approaching Young Link, Mewtwo engaged him in battle, challenging him for the item that he desired. The youth knew that he had no choice, so engaged in the combat as he must.

Mewtwo scoffed at Young Link, accusing him of not being able to even withstand his presence in battle, let alone stand a chance in combat. However, Young Link, being a brave youth, refused to listen to Mewtwo's taunts, believing them to be full of nothing but a mess of hot air.

To start their battle, Young Link charged at Mewtwo, sword first. As he attempted to deliver a powerful slash across the body, Mewtwo refused to let him have any delusions of a chance at victory and activated his shield. Because of Mewtwo's dark nature, the shield not only stopped the sword from doing any damage to Mewtwo, Young Link's sword was broken.

Though further battle seemed nearly useless, Young Link decided to continue fighting. After all, it was his duty as one of the guardians to protect his item. Though he had few items he could use in battle besides his sword, he decided to use his bow and boomerang from afar. Unfortunately, they could do no damage.

Mewtwo, growing bored with his opponent's futility finally took up the offensive. Slowly moving towards him, Mewtwo had become a truly intimidating figure to Young Link. Mewtwo started to attack his foe with his fists and tail.

While Young Link writhed in pain from the continuous attacks, Mewtwo sadistically smiled. He continued to always be right where the young swordsman fell from each painful attack, ready to continue to torture the helpless youth. To finish him off, Mewtwo charged up his Shadow Ball and released it, sending Young Link a small ways away an off of the fighting platform, defeated.

Wishing to further humiliate Young Link, he dragged him to the speed boots of legend. He took them, put them on, and proceeded to carry Young Link along with him back to the base, constantly telling him what a failure he was.

At the base, Mewtwo threw Young Link into the dungeon, then left. Realizing that he was near Zelda, Young Link tried to awaken her and see what had happened to her. After he woke her up, he asked her, "Princess, what happened to you?"

After catching her bearings, Zelda told him, "Um, I don't quite know what happened to me. The last thing I remember was wishing Link well on his way to go with Mario and Luigi on some quest or another."

Young Link's eyes shot open, "The group of five of legend that will overthrow the eleven items? How would Link know about it?"

Zelda, despite having the Triforce of Wisdom, had no knowledge of what Young Link was talking about. So, she asked, "What exactly are you talking about?"

"Well," he began, "the legend tells that five fighters would be able to defeat the beast the eleven items would bring forth. However, the only way the five fighters could win would be to fight fluidly and correctly against it."

"And you think your older self is one of these five?"

"While I don't know it for sure, I'm confident that he would indeed be one of the ones to join it. However, we still don't even know whether or not he's with them. If only there was a way to talk to him right now."

"There is."

"What is it, Princess?"

"Had you forgotten about my telepathic connection with your older self?"

"Indeed I had, Princess. Let's hope it works here."

All the while, the fivesome still sat in Jungle Japes, looking for some idea of where they should go to next. Suddenly, Link jerked his head back and his eyes opened wide as he mumbled one word, Zelda; the connection had been made.

'Link, Link, are you there? Can you hear me?'

'Zelda, is that you?'

'Yes, it is me, Link. Where are you?'

'I'm here in Jungle Japes with four others: Mario, Luigi, DK, and Samus.'

'Are you five traveling to try and thwart the power of the eleven items?'

'That sounds like what we're doing.'

'Wonderful.'

'Zelda…'

'Yes, Link?'

'How do you know about this?'

'Your younger self has explained this to me.'

'How did you come across him? I thought you were staying in Hyrule, just like he was staying in Termina.'

'Well, soon after you left, I was apparently captured and brought to some dungeon, as was he.'

'WHAT!?!!? Well, where are you exactly?'

'I don't exactly know where I am, but I know that I can see the Final Destination off in the distance.'

'Well, thanks, Zelda. I'll see if we can get there soon. Bye.'

'Good bye, Link. I know you five can do it.'

Retuning to normal consciousness, Link said to the other four in his group, "I know where we should go. Does anyone know how to get to the Final Destination?" Unfortunately, none of the other five quite knew how to get there, as Link got no response to his request for information.

Link sighed, wishing that someone knew how to get to the Final Destination. Suddenly, Mario suggested, "While none of us know how to get to the Final Destination, maybe Captain Falcon would know, considering he was the one to set this group together."

The other four gathered nodded in agreement with Mario: Captain Falcon would probably be the best bet to try and find some information on the Final Destination. They agreed that the best place to try and find him would be in Mute City. If that failed, they would attempt to go to Big Blue to try and find him.

When the group arrived in Mute City, they found Captain Falcon, waiting for them. As they approached him, he seemed to become very angry and yelled at Mario, "This is the group you choose?"

Realizing who the insult was directed for, Luigi stepped in front of his group. Spreading his arms wide, he stopped them from taking any unnecessary moves. He told them, "No, this one's mine."

Captain Falcon simply laughed snidely at Luigi, not believing that he would choose to attack him. While Captain Falcon continued that behavior, a furious Luigi delivered his Green Missile attack, right into the unsuspecting Captain Falcon's gut, sending him back a few feet staggering.

Luigi told him, "If you have a problem with my brother's actions, you come through me first."

Realizing that Luigi could indeed fight when the time was necessary, Captain Falcon began to fight. The green-clad plumber continued to fight very offensively, infuriated. He continued to drive his foe back on the platform the two decided to fight upon in Mute City. Before much could happen, the F-Zero racer had fallen off of the edge.

Unfortunately for Luigi, he landed on the racetrack underneath the platform and quickly returned to the platform, entirely furious with the young plumber fighting him. Unlike before, he was the one attacking offensively. Quickly, the bounty hunter delivered a series of athletic punches and kicks, finishing with his trademark Falcon Kick.

Luigi, recovering in midair, was able to just manage to hold onto the edge of the platform as it hovered over nothingness. Pulling himself up, Luigi was immediately met with another powerful attack: Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch.

Realizing that his only chance of survival hung in the balance, Luigi executed his Green Missile attack, and luckily he delivered the explosive Green Missile, launching him straight into Captain Falcon.

Due to the force of the blast, Captain Falcon fell over, obviously damaged by the powerful attack. However, that was not enough to finish the fight as he returned to his feet, only to be grabbed and thrown the other way by Luigi.

When the racer returned to his feet, He was attacked by Luigi's Luigi Cyclone attack, sending him somewhat in the air. In midair, Luigi executed his Super Jump Punch perfectly, sending Captain Falcon higher into the air.

When he returned to the ground, Captain Falcon's helmet fell off, revealing that he wasn't the real Captain Falcon, as the head underneath the helmet was robotic and fixed. A fuming Luigi's only response to the realization was to kick the robotic clone with force.

The others grabbed Luigi, trying to prevent him from causing any further unnecessary damage. Their primary restraint of Luigi was keeping him held captive in the arms of Donkey Kong. After a short while, Luigi had calmed himself and returned to his usual calm temperament.

Mario reminded Luigi, "Don't forget about us checking Big Blue."

Luigi nodded and motioned the others to find their way there.

Once upon the Falcon Flyer hovering over the track, the group of five noticed a small note wedged into a groove just outside the cockpit. The one to first notice it was the other bounty hunter, Samus, who picked it up and read its contents to the other four.

She told them, "The note says for us to seek out the 'two swordsmen.'"

Unlike when searching for the clues to the Final Destination, Link immediately knew who the note referred to, as he told the others, "Marth and Roy."


	6. Knowledge and Frustration

The others merely stared at their Hylian companion, confused to what he was trying to tell them.

Realizing that the others had no idea of what he was talking about, Link restated, "Marth and Roy." However, this time he added, "They're the 'two swordsmen.'"

Knowing Link had probably the best lead of the five of them, they agreed to try and find Marth and Roy, wherever they might be.

Continuing to show his knowledge of the 'two swordsmen', Link also said, "So, are we going to the Fountain of Dreams or not?"

The others agreed with Link, setting out for the Fountain of Dreams battle stage, where Link believed Marth and Roy to be. Hopefully they would be able to lead the five of them towards the Final Destination, fittingly their last destination.

When they arrived, they found that both Marth and Roy were there, eyeing everyone suspiciously, not sure if they would be coming to take one of the items they had been commissioned to guard.

Ever quick to the point, Samus asked them, "Are you the 'two swordsmen?'"

Marth, in a poor mood, angrily asked, "Who wants to know?"

Figuring any real confrontation would cause an unnecessary fight, Mario answered them, saying, "We found this note in Big Blue when we were looking for Captain Falcon. It told us that the 'two swordsmen' would be able to help us, and Link, being the swordsman of our group, told us that the best bet to find them would be you two. So can you help us find the Final Destination?"

Taken aback, Marth remained skeptical, while Roy, the more trusting of the two asked, "Why are you looking for the Final Destination?"

Being the one who was sent to assemble the group, Mario told them, "Captain Falcon told me of a group of five that would be able to stand when the eleven items were gathered."

For a moment Marth and Roy stepped back to converse about the revelation Mario had given them. Marth asked, "Do you think it could really be them."

Roy replied, "Yes, I think it might be. How else would they know about the fivesome? Captain Falcon was the only one besides us who knew of the legend. He wouldn't speak of it unless he knew he had to. I know I didn't tell anybody. Did you?"

Marth shook his head in reply. Continuing to respond, he said, "Does that mean that we should tell them about the route to the Final Destination?"

Roy nodded and said, "I think that they're the best chance that we have if that great evil becomes unsealed."

"You're right."

When the two returned to face the group gathered before them, they decided to divulge the location of the Final Destination. Both spoke and told them, "The only way to get to the Final Destination is from the Battlefield. However, to get to the Battlefield, you have to go through Mr. Game and Watch's Flat Zone. Explain your reason to him, and he will probably let you pass. Good luck."

With that the assembled group of five nodded and proceeded to venture to the Flat Zone, hoping that perhaps they could find their way to the Final Destination before things got out of hand with whoever was trying to gather these powerful items.

However, once the five heroes were out of the sight of Marth and Roy, the two sensed a presence behind them. Turning around, the 'two swordsmen' found themselves face to face with Ganondorf. He sneered at them and then challenged them to fight him for the items they guarded, the sword and cannon.

Knowing that a failure to fight meant certain loss, Marth and Roy readied themselves to fight the dark Hylian man of power. He definitely presented a powerful challenge with his great strength and power. They knew that if he used one of the items against them, he would be nearly impossible to destroy.

When actual battle began, the 'two swordsmen' decided to attack Ganondorf from separate sides, effectively doubling the damage they could deal to their foe. Using their swords, they continued to attack Ganondorf with a barrage of relatively weak attacks. However, Roy eventually missed one of his attacks, giving Ganondorf another chance to attack them.

Taking full advantage of his newfound opportunity, Ganondorf delivered a powerful Wizard's Foot attack to Marth and Roy. Before either of them could react, he decided to use his Warlock Punch on the helpless Marth, sending him to the edge of the platform. Deciding to pursue one before dealing with the other, Ganondorf grabbed Marth as soon as he pulled himself back up on the platform and threw him off of it again, effectively removing him from the fight.

With only Roy to fight him, Ganondorf charged him with another Wizard's Foot, but this time Roy was able to counter the attack, sending Ganondorf a few feet backwards. Knowing that countering attacks wouldn't be enough, Roy decided to do his best to knock Ganondorf off of the stage. After a few smash attacks, Roy had knocked Ganondorf off of the platform, but he returned.

Seeing an opportunity to finish the battle, Roy used a lighter smash attack to send Ganondorf flying. As soon as he delivered the smash attack, Roy began charging his Flare Blade, hoping to send the Gerudo flying. As if he timed it perfectly, Ganondorf landed right in the path of Roy's Flare blade as the explosive attack hit.

When the dust cleared, Roy stood on his feet, breathing heavily from the fight, hoping that Ganondorf had been defeated by the explosion. However, Ganondorf also stood there, seemingly unfazed by Roy's most powerful strike. Seeing how Roy was so taken aback, Ganondorf decided to pull out the item he had been keeping on him: the Dark Triangle.

By activating the Dark Triangle, Ganondorf had become exponentially more powerful, nearly invincible. Considering that his most powerful attack had done nothing to Ganondorf, Roy knew that any fighting he did would be in vain. Still, he hoped that whatever delay he could cause his foe might allow the five to reach the Final Destination, hopefully before chaos could rear its ugly head.

Unfortunately, Roy couldn't resist the power of the Dark Triangle for too long, as he quickly was overpowered by Ganondorf quickly appearing behind him and punching him square in the mouth. As Roy was sent flying, Ganondorf mocked the two guardians he had just taken care of.

As a precaution, Ganondorf took the swords of the 'two swordsmen' before demanding they show him where the items they guarded were. Sadly, without any weapons, Marth and Roy couldn't do anything but give in to Ganondorf's demands for the items that they guarded.

When he got his hands on the sword and cannon, Ganondorf felt another surge of power course through his veins. However, he saw, a bit more clearly than the time before, the beast the items would be able to reveal. However, his great pride still refused Ganondorf to believe that the visions he received while out collecting items could to anything to defeat him. If only he knew how wrong he was.

Continuing the work of the others in his group, Ganondorf decided to take the two guardians as hostages to the dungeon lair. When he threw them in, Marth and Roy saw that alongside them in the dungeon were Captain Falcon, Young Link, and Zelda: some of the more powerful guardians.

Seeing the two newest additions to the prison, the others gathered there lost a little more hope of the idea of success against the three evildoers that imprisoned them. The guardians of the good seemed to be finally overtaken by the more powerful dark foes they faced.

With at least seven of the eleven mystical items collected, Mewtwo, Ganondorf, and Bowser seemed almost impossible to conquer, but the legend of the five stood strong among the hopes of Marth and Roy, as well as the others gathered in the dungeon in the villains' lair.


	7. The Flat Zone

The only hope, it seemed for their world was in the hands of a small yet powerful group of devoted fighters. If they failed in their quest to stop the three they were set to fight, then it seemed that there would be no hope for the world; the chaos the items would bring when gathered together would nearly spell the end of the world.

As the five reached the Flat Zone, they saw that something that, under normal circumstances, shouldn't exist: five different versions of Mr. Game and Watch, all looking the same except for their color. The flat characters immediately noticed the five that had invaded upon their territory, but their focus was devoted primarily to Mario. The five of them each pointed at the plumber and then leapt at him.

Attempting to defend himself, Mario rolled out of the way of the unorganized leap. Getting to his feet, he assumed his normal fighting stance, adjusting his cap and remaining light on his feet. As his five foes approached him, he fired a stream of fireballs at the human outlines. The five slowly showed signs of being burned by the fireballs, but continued onwards towards Mario.

As Mario prepared to strike with a smash attack, some of his foes decided to change tactics. Two jumped upwards, as the other three came at Mario from the front. Seeing the threat the two airborne foes possessed, Mario leapt into the air and kicked them back, momentarily out of contention.

As he was returning to the ground, Mario quickly was struck by the Mr. Game and Watch directly beneath him with an upwards smash attack. In the interim, Mario was vulnerable while waiting to fall to the ground. The remaining two-dimensional foes leapt at Mario and mercilessly attacked him with weaker attacks, racking up damage against the red plumber.

When he finally had a chance to retaliate, Mario used his Mario Tornado attack to create some distance between him and his foes. As they scattered right and left, Mario attacked those who flew to the left, as they were the ones that had sustained the heaviest damage. Delivering a strong midair punch to the both of them, they flew off of the battlefield and left only three opponents for Mario to have to defeat.

Landing on the Flat Zone platform, Mario faced the three remaining opponents, ready to finish the fight. As they attempted to come near him on the ground, waiting with empty buckets to absorb one of Mario's fireballs, the Italian plumber ran towards them and slid, knocking each of them into the air. As the first came down, Mario used a powerful upwards smash attack to send him aerially out of the battlefield.

The other two landed just outside of Mario's reach. One got close enough to Mario to attempt his hammer attack, but Mario took out his cape and spun it at his foe, effectively turning him around, facing the other Mr. Game and Watch. As the result of the hammer attack turned out to be a 9, the second Mr. Game and Watch was sent away from the battlefield, defeated.

With only one opponent left, Mario quickly attacked with a number of punches and kicks. When the flat man approached him again, Mario pressed his hands together and emitted a fireball, delivering his most powerful smash attack. As expected, this attack finished the fight, giving Mario a victory over the five different versions of Mr. Game and Watch.

Examining the five foes Mario had quickly dispatched, the other four found them to be robotic, like the Young Link that Mario and Luigi encountered in Termina Great Bay. Figuring that the robots had to have been made by the three that they looked to defeat, the five again did not know where to go. In Mr. Game and Watch's Flat Zone, they didn't know which way to proceed, because Mr. Game and Watch, as they concluded from their encounter, was not there. If he was not there, then where could he be?

Knowing Marth and Roy would not lie to the five, they decided to remain in the Flat Zone, exploring the general area, hoping to acquire some information about the route to the Final Destination.

Meanwhile, Bowser was out, attempting to gather two more items: the crown and the leg guards. Knowing they were both guarded by Ness in Onett, Bowser rode in his Koopa Clown Car to the area, secretly holding the Star Rod with him.

When he arrived on the battlefield located between a few houses, he jumped out of his flying contraption and yelled for Ness. After hearing Bowser, knowing that he was trying to steal the items, as Captain Falcon had spread the word to the other guardians, Ness ran out to fight him.

As Bowser was on one house and Ness was on another, battle was ready to commence. Not quite sure of what Bowser was able to use, Ness stood back and waited for Bowser to charge after him. As Ness figured, Bowser ran and leapt at the boy, swiping with his claws. Utilizing a simple sidestep, Ness avoided the attack. At close range, Ness took out his baseball bat and smashed Bowser back into the street between the two houses.

Shaking his head and returning to his feet, Bowser again ran in the direction of Ness, but this time he leapt above Ness, looking to flatten him underneath him. Ness, not having _that_ quick a reflex this time, was crushed underneath.

After being thrown into the air by the force of the attack, Ness kicked Bowser in the head as he returned to the ground. As the Koopa's eyes burned with fury, Ness continued to make his foe burn by attacking with his PK Fire, effectively setting Bowser on fire for a few seconds. Bowser, when he returned to his feet, retaliated with a fire blast of his own, opening his mouth and exhaling burning flames.

Ness stood his ground against Bowser's attack, preparing to use his strongest attack, the PK Flash. When he had charged the strike enough, he released its full force upon Bowser. Had the house behind him not been there, Bowser would have instantly been KO'd. However, the car coming toward him also seemed to be enough to end this battle. Quickly, Bowser reached behind his back before the car could hit him.

As the vehicle collided with Bowser, it simply was deflected in the opposite direction. After the deflection, Bowser began to glow in rainbow colors, growing to a larger size with his own small force field encompassing him.

Now Ness was scared. Knowing full well the power that the Star Rod possessed, he knew that Bowser had become invincible, at least for a short while. If Ness could avoid Bowser until the power of the Star Rod failed, then maybe he'd still have a chance in the fight.

However, that idea would be very difficult to bring to fulfillment, because Bowser very quickly charged at Ness, and his newfound height did not allow Ness to jump over him. Seeing where Ness was, Bowser thrust his horns into Ness's torso, knocking him out of the battlefield.

After grabbing Ness and demanding he show Bowser the location of the items, Bowser stopped using the powers of his Star Rod. Grabbing the crown and leg guards, Bowser yet again saw somewhat the form of the beast the items would bring and the mass destruction they would cause. Shuddering for a second, Bowser regained his senses and took Ness in his Koopa Clown Car on his way back to the base.

Hearing someone coming, the five heroes found a place to hide in the Flat Zone. Seeing Bowser come on through into the battlefield, they tried to stay silent and wait to see where he was going. Luckily, Bowser proceeded through the stage, showing the passageway the five looked for was through the door of the Flat Zone.

After Bowser went through the passage, the five heroes waited a moment to avoid direct confrontation, and then proceeded through the door, ready to find their way to the Flat Zone to rescue their allies.


	8. Head Games

Meanwhile, amongst the prisoners, Mewtwo came and grabbed Zelda, figuring to use her as a pawn. Harshly handling her, the demented being threw Zelda into another dungeon where she came across the first prisoner that the three power-hungry creatures captured: Mr. Game and Watch.

Once in the prison, Zelda realized that while Mewtwo was changing her prison, he had drawn blood from her so discreetly that she hadn't realized it. When she understood what happened, she saw Mewtwo slip a vile filled with a crimson red liquid into a strange apparatus.

From there, she saw that the apparatus displayed her picture on a screen and after Mewtwo eagerly pressed a button, causing the machine to hum a strange noise. It almost seemed as if the machine was assembling something, and it turned out that it was creating something. Zelda gasped as she saw that the machine produced a near perfect copy of Zelda.

Hearing her gasp, Mewtwo turned towards Zelda and maliciously asked her, "Do you like the new you, the 'real you?'"

Confused and scared, Zelda asked, "What do you mean?"

With one of the most demonic smiles, Mewtwo slightly cocked his head and said, "Why, that thing is you. There is only one thing that keeps it from being human, your blood running through its veins."

Becoming somewhat determined, Zelda confidently said, "There's no way that that _thing_ will ever have my blood within it."

"Why of course not," Mewtwo started, "it won't have your blood. If I have to make another one, that one will have your blood. Then I won't have any use for you. So you'd better hope that this one stays in one piece." Mewtwo then laughed maniacally before leaving Zelda to her fear and anger.

Figuring that Link should again know what was going on, Zelda contacted him through the means of telepathy.

Just past the Flat Zone and into the base, the five heroes readied themselves to storm their enemies' base. Just before any instructions were given, Link suddenly tilted his head backwards and opened his eyes, receiving one of Zelda's messages.

'Link, are you there?' she hoped.

'Zelda, where are you?' he responded.

'Oh thank Goodness I found you, Link. I've got some horrible news.'

Growing worried, Link responded, 'What is it Zelda?'

'You know how they've been making robots, right?'

'Sure. What about them?'

'These robots have been made molded after the prisoners that they're holding here.'

'Damn them. Who all is there, then?'

'Almost everybody's here, 16 fighters of the other 17.'

'Who's left?'

'The only one they haven't captured is Fox. According to what Young Link told me before they moved me to this other dungeon-'

'What? There's a second dungeon?'

'Yes, they moved me here just before I contacted you. Getting back to my point, Fox is supposed to be the guardian of the only two remaining items: the facemask and the neck guard. If he gets impulsive, he might just try and come here himself, using the items he swore to protect. I know Bowser is on his way to try and handle the last guardian.'

'Well, that doesn't look good. What of this new dungeon, Zelda?'

'Well, right now the only ones there are Mr. Game and Watch and me. After I was placed here, a sample of my blood was taken and they-'

A new voice entered the telepathic conversation and added, 'Well, well, well. The little princess thinks she can send a message to her "hero." Zelda, I thought you knew better than to try and interfere with my plans. You'll have to be dealt with accordingly.'

Realizing that Zelda's aura had faded from their conversation, Link angrily submitted, 'Mewtwo, you fiend! What have you done to the princess?'

Hearing nothing but cold laughter, Link continued to grow furious. Eventually, Mewtwo responded, 'Don't worry yourself, Link. I haven't done anything too bad to _your_ princess. All I've done is make sure she doesn't interfere with my plans anymore. You'd best avoid it too.'

Snapping back into reality, Link started to breathe heavily for a moment, attempting to return his heartbeat to a normal level. When he felt he had sufficiently calmed himself, he told the other members of his party, "We're definitely in the right place, but we've got to hurry. They've already got nine of the eleven items, and just to make matters worse, Bowser's after the last two."

The other four stood with a sense of dumbfounded astonishment before Link decided to continue.

"One more thing greatly worries me. They've got Zelda in some new dungeon where they took a sample of her blood. I don't know what exactly they're doing, but I know that Zelda mentioned the robots we've faced earlier when she was talking about the dungeon. Unfortunately, that's all I know about what they're up to with my princess."

Shaking her head and sighing slightly, Samus said two words, "Cloning robots."

The other members of the group looked at her confusedly before she explained, "Mewtwo, Ganondorf, and Bowser probably have some pseudo-cloning machine that makes robots once they have sufficient data on them. They don't necessarily need to have a sample from them, but a sample would make the robot clone closer to perfection. Likely those Mr. Game and Watch robots we faced earlier were examples of that power."

DK's fists instantly closed and he punched the closest thing to him at the time, which happened to be a steel wall, slightly injuring his hand as a result of the action. Uttering curses, Donkey Kong lowered his eyebrows, even more determined to complete this quest than he had been before.

Samus continued, "Now, Link. Since they've got Zelda, it's likely that they've already produced a robotic clone of her. You cannot allow yourself to show any signs of mercy to _anything_ that you see that is not one of us until we are sure that we've set those three where they belong. Understand."

Link, as well as the Mario Brothers nodded, knowing full-well the severity of the situation that they found themselves in. While it might be hard to fight those that looked like their old friends and allies, they knew that they had to fight them following the "shoot first, ask questions later" mindset so accustomed to the last guardian, Fox McCloud.

Quickly, the five moved throughout the base, throwing caution to the wind as they sprinted throughout the base they found themselves in. Soon, they arrived at the at the Battlefield stage, knowing that the Final Destination was soon within their grasp.

Before they could proceed to the Final Destination, Zelda came to the group, seemingly in pain from what Mewtwo had done to her. As she cried out, "Link," the Hero of Time's focused eyes turned calm and loving, believing that she had escaped.

However, before Link could utter anything back at Zelda, Samus fired a fully charged Charge Beam at Zelda. Link's eyes turned to horror. He knew that Samus was cold-blooded in combat, but it seemed that an action like that was below even her standards.

When the dust from the blast cleared, it was revealed that Zelda no longer had her left hand. Squeezing it in a pained expression, she inadvertently revealed to Link that it was not Zelda, but her robotic clone.

Samus said to Link, "I told you that you couldn't trust it to be Zelda. You, of all people should have realized that."

Immediately, Link's caring eyes turned stone cold, seething with a great burning hatred, as he leapt after the false robotic copy of Zelda, ready to destroy the poor excuse for his Princess Zelda.


	9. The Last Two

In an instant, Link slashed and swiped his sword with wild force and accuracy, each hit continuing to hit the copy of Zelda and seeming to do more damage than the last one. Flying backwards, the copy continued to fight back, figuring the best way to defeat Link would be to fight as Sheik.

In the Sheikah form, the copy was indefinitely faster than in the Zelda incarnation. With this increased speed, the copy was able to attempt to attack Link directly with a series of quick and near-continuous series of kicks and lunges. While Link was able to fend off most of the attacks, there was no way that he could have blocked all of them, thus gathering some damage.

However, knowing that this Zelda was merely a copy of his princess, Link realized that the mechanized form of the Hylian princess must have some pattern to its attacks. Crouching behind his shield, Link successfully blocked enough of the copy's attacks to discern the pattern it was following.

Whenever this copy attacked Link, it always attacked with a series of sweeping kicks, attempting to quickly reach Link's unprotected side, and then it would use its chain somewhat unexpectedly to try and catch Link by surprise. If that worked, the copy then threw its darts at Link and repeated the process.

Finding the right time in the pattern, Link leapt up in the air during one of the kicks, startling the copy just enough for Link to securely strike with his sword pointed downwards in an attempt to plant it right in the copy's head. Link's attack hit well, knocking the copy a little ways up in the air. With his quick reflexes and instincts, Link's next move was to attempt to keep the copy up in the air by thrusting his sword upwards and continuing to send the copy flying.

However, one time the copy realized Link's methodical attempts to attack it and momentarily vanishing in an explostion. The force of the blast knocked Link downwards, and the copy took its best shot to attack Link on his way down to the Battlefield stage.

With a vicious series of kicks, the copy managed to keep Link airborne as it attacked him mercilessly with bold malice in its eyes. The damage continued to accrue upon Link as he fought bitterly to try and regain his footing for a moment. When he finally got that chance, Link leapt in midair away from the copy and landed on the opposite floating platform.

As the battle returned to even grounds, the copy readied a number of throwing darts, all aimed at Link's head. However, before it could unleash them, Link threw his boomerang at his foe and knocked it down for a moment. Seizing that opportunity, Link prepared to unleash his powerful smash attack. When the copy regained its footing, it met with the brunt of Link's blade, sending it skyward. As it returned towards him, Link readied to deliver the final blow.

However, Link felt a pulsation go through his body, one that wouldn't let him deliver a finishing blow. The brave and determined swordsman bore a shocked expression upon his face, unknowing of what was going on.

As that happened, the copy landed upon the ground, but it was relatively obvious that something was quite different about it. Since it was a robotic copy with exposed wires, it seems that the damage Link had done to the copy with his sword had caused some significant damage to the circuitry of the copy.

The copy suddenly bore a somewhat demented, sadistic smile upon its visage. For a second, Link felt a tinge of natural fear. However, in another second, Link's great courage prevailed as he waited to try and see what would happen. Still bearing that somewhat fearsome smile, the copy waved its one hand then latched itself onto Link.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the copy shone a bright shade of red and detonated itself while still holding onto Link. The ensuing explosion damaged Link very severely, leaving the man clad in green barely breathing.

Though the copy of Zelda had been defeated, it came at a very heavy cost. Though the group of five was deep within the territory of their opposition, with time running out, one of their more skilled fighters was nearly dead. Link's will to live and relentless courage would keep him alive, but there was no doubt that he was seriously out of contention from battle for a while.

Meanwhile, Bowser had finally tracked down Fox and the last two items. Upon the Great Fox, flying around in Corneria, Bowser's quest for the tenth and eleventh items came to its culmination. Before they engaged in battle, the Koopa King and the somewhat impulsive Star Fox leader stared each other down, neither one wanting to lose the ensuing battle.

As their preparations for battle were completed, the two fighters leapt at each other. Descending from the height of the great wing, Fox had the clear advantage over Bowser as he delivered a powerful kick aimed at Bowser's jaw. While still in midair, Fox decided to activate his Fire Fox maneuver and the force of the flames and Fox's body weight sent Bowser airborne for a moment.

Returning to his feet, Bowser shook his head and breathed a stream of fire in the direction of Fox. Quickly jumping, Fox easily avoided Bowser's first attack. However, Bowser decided to pursue Fox, trying to spin into the fox using his Whirling Fortress attack. Though Fox was agile in battle, this attack was able to momentarily knock him backwards. Using that opportunity, Bowser leapt into the air and used his size to attack Fox with his Bowser Bomb.

After being hit with the powerful strike, Fox was able to regain his footing for a moment and decided to let his skills as one of the guardians shine. Quickly, he delivered a series of kicks to Bowser, and when Bowser attempted to parry some of the attacks, Fox simply used his Fox Illusion and, after the effect of that attack was done, powerfully kicked Bowser in the back of the head, knocking the behemoth to the ground.

Rubbing the back of his head, Bowser returned to his feet and decided that he'd have to use the items that he brought along with him: the Star Rod and the jetpack. Choosing to reserve the Star Rod for a last resort, Bowser took out the jetpack and began to constantly float above the ground. From some experimentation, Bowser also found that he could make the jetpack increase his speed and the range of some of his attacks.

Once airborne, Bowser used the flight and movement of this mystical item to breathe a moving stream of fire after Fox, who was forced to run from this stream of flames. Eventually, Bowser had cornered Fox on the edge of the Great Fox. Continuing to breathe his stream of fire, Bowser knew that Fox would have to do something somewhat drastic in order to avoid damage.

Much to Bowser's dismay, Fox did just that; rolling out of the way of the last of Bowser's stream of fire, Fox leapt into midair and, very athletically, managed to turn his body over and kick Bowser in the gut. As a result of that kind of attack, the jetpack was thrown off-balance for a moment, sending Bowser crashing into the cockpit of the Great Fox.

Smirking for a moment, Fox continued to assault Bowser with a series of powerful kicks, culminating his intricate mode of attacks with another use of his powerful Fire Fox, engulfing Bowser in the flames for a moment before he launched himself at his opponent.

When Bowser returned to his feet, he momentarily discarded the jetpack in favor of the more powerful Star Rod. Since he knew that the Star Rod was one of the more powerful items, Fox decided, considering the severity of the situation he knew the guardians were in, to disobey the oath he had taken as a guardian. Taking out the face mask and the neck guard, Fox implemented the two items he had sworn to protect from falling into evil hands.

As he placed the two items upon his form, Fox momentarily was reduced to his hands and knees: to one opposed to injustice, the items could only bring great misfortune and pain. If Fox was to keep the two items upon him for any extended period of time, the evil presence locked away in the items would slowly seep away at the good that pervaded the guardian.

Though he had added protection to his face and neck, Fox seemed to cringe in pain, experiencing the power of these terrible items for the first time. It was if a voice spoke to Fox through the items, especially through the face mask. Though the voice spoke to him in a dark tone, Fox knew that the advice he received was sound.

"The Star Rod may grant him momentary invincibility, but you know that if you wait long enough, the power of his stolen item will eventually wear out," the voice offered as its first piece of advice to Fox.

The Star Fox commander nodded in response to the voice and decided to try and hide himself under the wing of the Great Fox while Bowser activated his invincibility. As Bowser became momentarily invulnerable, he again grew in size somewhat.

Hunting for Fox, Bowser slowly lumbered his way across the Great Fox, creating small craters in the hull of the ship with each step he took. Fox knew that at this rate, the Great Fox would be reduced to a shell of a ship and would crash land while both were still upon it.

Despite the possible wreck of his ship hanging in the balance, Fox decided to remain in a momentary hiding. However, that was not to last as Bowser found Fox in his spot. Before Bowser knew what was happening, Fox taunted Bowser, then executed his Fox Illusion when Bowser angrily lunged at him.

When Bowser landed on the ground, Fox saw that the invulnerability had momentarily worn off. The voice urged him to attack, and Fox again attacked Bowser with a series of kicks, eventually using a smash kick in order to knock Bowser up into the air. When Fox went up to attack Bowser in midair again, he saw that the invulnerability had returned.

Realizing that Fox was around him, Bowser grabbed him with the Koopa Klaw and chewed him up (literally). Then, throwing Fox to the ground, Bowser again used his Bowser Bomb and used the full brunt of his new size and nearly flattened Fox into the Great Fox.

As much as Fox tried to come up with some defense for the attacks that Bowser now was using against him, neither he nor the mask could create a legitimate strategy: the Star Rod, doubled with the sheer size of Bowser were nearly unable to be beaten. As valiantly as he had fought, Fox faced only defeat.

When the battle concluded, Bowser forcefully removed the two items from Fox and surprisingly found that the outline of where the items were on Fox seemed to burn as if they were acidic to him. Once Bowser had full possession of the last two items, he saw again the same vision he had seen: destruction by the hands of one being.

Despite the greatest efforts by the guardians and the five heroes sent to try and halt the plans of the three evildoers, they failed in their attempt to stop the eleven items from falling into the wrong hands. It would take nothing short of a miracle for their foes to be thwarted.


	10. Bowser and Ganondorf

As Bowser took the last two items and Fox back to the base, it almost seemed as if the mask that he carried with him emitted a sinister chuckle, as if it knew what was to come.

When the five assembled heroes saw Bowser coming back in full control of his faculties and holding Fox by the tail, they hung their heads for a moment, thinking they might be too late. However, from their roots as heroes, all five knew that nothing was lost until it was all said and done. The first four set off in a hurry, while Link got back to his feet and supported himself with the Master Sword.

When Mario, Luigi, Samus, and Donkey Kong finally reached the Final Destination, they saw that the three evildoers that they had been trying to stop all were in possession of all eleven items and each was displaying their own proudly. Bowser wore the jetpack, leg guards, and neck guard while simultaneously wielding the Star Rod; Ganondorf wielded the sword, cannon, and Dark Triangle and wore the speed boots; lastly, Mewtwo had the crown, face mask, and shield.

Looking upon the three, the four seemed a bit daunted at the power they beheld, but still showed a powerful look of resolve in their eyes. Though they knew the odds were heavily stacked against them, the five knew that they were the five of the prophecy; if they didn't win, then no one could.

Facing all three, a powerful aura emanated from those that wielded the legendary items. The aura seemed as if it alone would wear down any person who dared to oppose them, yet it also seemed to possess a recoil in that it seemed that the aura also slowly seemed to drain the three dastardly villains that used them.

Nonetheless, the four that remained stood and faced the three (now very) powerful foes that stood in their way of saving their companions from the grasp of evil. As would have been expected, Mario set off against Bowser, with Luigi not far behind. The sharpshooter, Samus, decided to match wits with Mewtwo, whilst DK attempted to take out his rage on the powerful Ganondorf.

Leading the four that were able to fight, Mario threw up his right hand in a signal to attack. Against Bowser, he decided that he would attack first and let Luigi come and attack after him to compound any damage. Standing at the edge of the Final Destination, Mario had arranged the battle in such a way that all three bouts of the brawl would take place at separate places, somewhat isolated from the others.

Since Bowser had activated the Star Rod already, Mario knew that in order to defeat him, he would have to be perfect with his timing in the brief lapses in which the item wasn't working. And while Bowser had both the neck guard and jetpack in his possession, he knew that he would furthermore not be able to cause as much damage to Bowser, who likely wouldn't lapse into his usual frustrations in battle.

Making the first move, Mario rolled to his right and leapt into midair. When Bowser turned around to face the mustached plumber, Mario dodged backwards in order to avoid a swipe of Bowser's claws. While he was so preoccupied with attacking Mario, the brief lapse in the power of the Star Rod came about, and Luigi, who had been waiting for the proper opportunity to attack, used one of Mario's signature attacks against Bowser, grabbing his large tail and spinning him around, sending him off of the Final Destination platform for a moment.

However, Bowser had no intentions of going down that easily. While he was falling, Bowser turned on the Jetpack and started to float upwards on the power of the item. Now, since he was facing both Mario brothers, Bowser had little chance of being caught by surprise by an attack from behind him. Breathing fire, Bowser hoped that he would be able to cheaply incinerate the plumbers that constantly were able to thwart his plans.

Even with that hope, Bowser knew that his flaming breath wouldn't be enough to deal with Mario and Luigi. The two brothers both simultaneously leapt into midair and Luigi quickly preformed his Green Missle, aimed at Bowser's weaker underbelly. Luckily, the blast also happened to hit the split second after Bowser's Star Rod powers faded for a brief moment.

Even though he was riding on a jetpack, the force of that powerful attack of Luigi's sent Bowser flying backwards a few feet. If it weren't for the neck guard that he was wearing, Bowser would have launched into a great rage and easily lost the battle he was fighting. Since he was using the neck guard for the first time, even he stopped for a moment in midair and questioned why he wasn't loosing his cool with the Italian plumbers.

Returning into battle with full force, Bowser again used the Star Rod to increase his size greatly and then used the jetpack to fly so high upwards that neither Mario nor Luigi could see him. At such an altitude, Bowser stopped the powers of the jetpack and decided to use his sheer size to try and crush his overall-clad foes.

Seeing the attack coming first, Luigi saw that Bowser would easily injure Mario more so than himself, so he threw himself at Mario, grabbing his brother and tossing him a short ways away. Luckily, Luigi threw his brother just far enough out of the way to avoid the force of Bowser. However, in the process of trying to save his brother, Luigi received the full force of Bowser's incredibly powerful attack.

Mario immediately was enraged with Bowser for delivering such a powerful attack to his brother. His bond with his younger brother ran very deeply, and he was not going to let the Koopa king get away with what almost was murder. Nonetheless, Mario knew that he would have to keep his composure in order to defeat Bowser, especially at that strength.

Luckily, the powers of the Star Rod again faded for a moment when Mario's burning rage had reached its apex. Using a speed previously unknown to him, Mario leapt upwards and rammed his head into Bowser's, somehow doing a great damage with it. Continuing his attacking combination before his opponent could even react, Mario delivered a series of vicious kicks to Bowser's underbelly on his way downwards. To top off his series of attacks, Mario seemed to light his one hand on fire (with one of his fireballs) and used that hand to deliver a flaming punch to Bowser, again knocking him off of the platform.

With the force of these powerful attacks, the mighty beast was barely able to recover himself with the jetpack. No matter how many times he fell off the edge of the platform, whether or not it was his own will, the jetpack seemed as if it would always allow him to recover. Growling deeply, Bowser intended to put some fear into Mario.

However, the standing plumber would have none of this, as he clenched his fists again, readying to deliver another bevy of attacks once the time was right. Despite his building fury, Mario masterfully dodged Bowser's slow stream of attacks. Strangely enough, the power of the Star Rod seemed to last much longer this time.

Eventually, Bowser was able to capture Mario. Holding him with his claw, Bowser taunted Mario, knowing that he could not do anything while he was held in that compromising situation. Bowser, although it was a stupid idea, even deactivated the power of his Star Rod.

Amazingly, Luigi was able to muster enough strength to return to his feet. Conveniently, he found himself behind Bowser and saw that the powers of the Star Rod were deactivated (though he though it was the momentary lapse in power). Taking full advantage of the situation, Luigi again executed his Green Missle attack. Since this time he fired the especially explosive version of the attack, he was able to do a great deal of damage to Bowser. Even though Luigi hit him squarely in the spiked shell, the force of the attack reverberated to the other side of Bowser's body.

Momentarily releasing his grasp on Mario as a result of this, Bowser was not in full possession of his faculties, nor all of his items. The powerful blast from Luigi was actually able to knock off his leg guards and make him drop the Star Rod. Though he tried to reclaim his items, Bowser found that he was without luck.

When Bowser bent down to pick up the Star Rod, Mario was right there to deliver a powerful uppercut aimed at Bowser's jaw. The ensuing force of the blow caused the neck guard to disconnect, leaving Bowser with only the jetpack. Dethroning Bowser of his former power, Luigi kicked the jetpack off of Bowser from behind, effectively stripping him of his four items.

Mario, in trademark fashion, grabbed Bowser's hanging tail and spun him around by it, throwing him off of the Final Destination stage. Without the help of the jetpack, Bowser had no way to recover from the throw, especially after the heavy damage he had sustained in the battle. One of the three powerful villains was defeated, but it had taken both Mario brothers to effectively do the job.

Meanwhile, Donkey Kong was doing his best to do successful battle with the mighty Ganondorf. Though both fighters were imposing in size, DK was clearly the one who was naturally faster. However, the speed boots that Ganondorf wore allowed him to run faster than the ape.

Because of this speed, Ganondorf started to attack DK first. Swinging the sword masterfully, the only thing Donkey Kong could do was dodge to his left and right, barely avoiding the edge of the blade. Snickering with his mocking laugh, Ganondorf continued this pattern of attacking until he finally connected with Donkey Kong.

However, this contact was not the contact that Ganondorf had hoped for, as he received a punch from DK's burly arms, aimed directly at his head. Though the attack was supposed to do some significant damage, Ganondorf felt no pain, as the Dark Triangle protected him from most damaging attacks.

Keeping this in mind, Donkey Kong tried to find a weak point in Ganondorf. Not only was it hard to try and find the weak point of one whom seemingly cannot take any damage, but it became infinitely harder when DK was trying to dodge every frantic swipe of the sword Ganondorf held. No matter how hard he ran or tried to dodge, it always seemed that the King of Evil would always connect eventually.

Devising an attempt to defend himself, DK rolled between Ganondorf's legs, hoping that the speed boots would also reduce his traction (because of the greater speed). DK was close enough with what he hoped for, as he had a clear shot at the back of Ganondorf's head, which he gladly took. Bringing both fists together while leaping into the air, DK brought his powerful fists down upon the back of Ganondorf's head.

However, this attack still seemed to do no damage, as Ganondorf turned in DK's direction, the Gerudo man proceeded to grab him and throw him upwards. Attacking the vulnerable ape, the desert man leapt upwards and kicked him further upwards, waiting for the ape to land upon the ground.

Continuing to mercilessly pummel his opponent, Ganondorf made it seem as if this battle was clearly decided. However, before he was able to deliver the final blow to the ape, Ganondorf felt the sharp point of an arrow in his back. For the first time since he had reacquired the Dark Triangle, he significantly felt some pain.

Turning around, Ganondorf saw that the one who had shot him was none other than Link, who still struggled to support himself in his fighting stance. Nonetheless, the Hylian warrior stood waiting to send his help to try and defeat Ganondorf.

In a furious rage, Ganondorf used his canon to fire a large number of shots at Link. Somehow, Link was able to dodge all of the shots fired at him before he got in range of Donkey Kong.

Whispering to the ape, Link said, "There's only one way to beat the Dark Triangle, and that's through Triforce energy. I can help you out there, removing his invulnerability, but I can't take much more damage. If you can protect me while fighting with him, he'll go down. Got it?"

Donkey Kong nodded, signifying that he understood what his fellow hero was up to. He knew that he'd need any help he could get in order to take down someone as strong as Ganondorf.

Endowed with a new sense of confidence in battle, DK leapt skyward as he avoided another swing of Ganondorf's sword. In successfully dodging the attack, he prepared to deliver an attack on his way down. Again, he brought his fists together and attempted to hit Ganondorf in the back of the head, and this time solid contact led to solid damage.

However, Donkey Kong was not about to go without retaliation from Ganondorf. The dark man slashed powerfully and connected significantly across DK's chest. Feeling the brunt of the damage, he staggered back a few steps, but then came charging after his opponent.

In his charging haste, DK delivered a punch in passing and then grabbed Ganondorf and readied to throw him off of the edge of the Final Destination platform. While his throw was powerful and accurate, DK had momentarily forgotten about the power of the speed boots that Ganondorf wore.

Though he was naturally very slow, Ganondorf ran while still in midair and created enough momentum (and some limited flight) to return to the edge of the platform. The desert man was able to return to the platform, but suddenly he heard the sound of a coiling metallic object, and felt his speed boots fly off his feet.

Looking to the source of the sound, Ganondorf found that the one who had removed his speed boots was none other than Link. Infuriated not only by the fact that one of his items had been stolen, but also by the grin Link wore upon his visage, Ganondorf ragingly fired shots from his cannon at Link, but DK valiantly took the brunt of the damage.

Seeing that damage, Ganondorf grinned sadistically, feeling that if he had at least weakened one of the two that he fought, he had made some progress. Seeing that DK was slowly recovering from the cannon shots, the villain made his way over to the injured ape and prepared to swing his sword.

However, Ganondorf was caught by great surprise when instead of delivering another powerful swing of his sword he was knocked backwards by the powerful fist of Donkey Kong. The blast again knocked Ganondorf off of the platform. Clinging to a slim hope of returning to the platform, he planted his sword into the side of the platform and somehow used it as a powerful springboard.

Nonetheless, Ganondorf's only item that remained useful at the time was the cannon. Though it was a powerful long-distance item, even it had its limitations. Ganondorf, however, knew none of that; quickly he prepared to launch another bevy of cannonballs at the two heroes who opposed him.

In a similar matter to the last time this assault happened, Donkey Kong stood in front of Link, seemingly ready to take the brunt of the attack. However, this time, Link leapt onto DK's shoulders and from them, he leapt towards Ganondorf. Since the desert man was preoccupied with the cannon, he didn't see that Link was headed towards him until he felt the powerful strength of the Master Sword colliding with his skull twice.

Successfully, Donkey Kong and a weakened Link found themselves able to defeat Ganondorf. As he lay in a state unfit for battle, he dropped the cannon and the Dark Triangle left his body, removing the last of his four items. Only one more of the three opponents remained: Mewtwo. The four heroes who had previously fought all hoped that she could handle the mastermind behind the plot of the eleven items.


	11. Mewtwo

Though this was the first time that success relied more or less solely upon a single battle, Samus was definitely a true fighter, having had years of experience dealing with all kinds of creatures and evils. Also to her advantage was the fact that Mewtwo was the one of the three who opposed the five that only had three items. Still, her opponent was likely the one who would use the three items best.

The battle started off with Mewtwo taunting, as was usually his cocky style; he always thought he could take anything that stood in his way (easily). Though not truly affected by the taunt, Samus charged after her opponent looking to deliver a powerful kick.

Again, Mewtwo scoffed, as Samus' kick did no damage whatsoever to Mewtwo, as the shield was able to deflect the attack, somehow knocking Samus backwards in the process. Mewtwo decided to use the brief moment Samus was still taking in the results of the reflection to try and attack quickly. After all, it is known that a series of quicker (though less powerful) attacks can disarm those who cannot use quick attacks effectively (according to the face mask).

Though Samus saw a quick attack from Mewtwo coming, she merely stood her ground and waited to see the results of it. As she expected, her foe reached out to try and attack her with his tail. Instead of taking the attack, Samus quickly jumped upwards to avoid it. Despite being in a more vulnerable position, she was not attacked as she ascended skyward.

Instead of battling at a close proximity, Samus used her jump to separate the distance between herself and her opponent. When she landed, she saw that Mewtwo was firing his Shadow Ball. In order to attempt to parry it, Samus launched two missiles from the cannon on her right arm.

The first two projectiles met in midair (somewhat closer to Samus than to Mewtwo) and cancelled each other out. However, the second missile did not stop since the Shadow Ball had been destroyed. Much to the surprise of both combatants, the projectile did not stop when it reached Mewtwo's shield, instead it passed through it. Neither thought that the shield was penetrable, especially after it blocked a direct attack.

Seeing that the shield had a weak point, Samus quickly rushed to attack Mewtwo again, this time from a close range. However, when she tried to attack Mewtwo physically, yet again the shield was able to block the attack. Before Samus could retreat, she was swept off of her feet by Mewtwo's long and able tail.

While the bounty hunter was in midair, the Pokémon again charged up his Shadow Ball attack, and delivered it successfully when Samus again was within its range. The dark energy of the attack was able to stun Samus for a moment, but she was able to quickly get to her feet. However, Mewtwo was right next to her, ready to attack again.

Using some quick reflexes, Samus curled up into her Morph Ball and quickly rolled behind Mewtwo. Taking her opportunity, Samus again fired a missile at Mewtwo, but also started to charge up her Charge Beam. As the missile hit, her opponent fell forward for a second (without hitting the ground; Mewtwo would never accept defeat).

That time that Mewtwo fell forward during gave Samus the opportunity she had been waiting for to use the power of her Charge Beam. When he turned to face her again, he was taken by surprise with the powerful blast of energy ready to deliver serious damage; he was too late to try to create a Shadow Ball to try and deflect the blast.

Successfully, the blast hit, but Mewtwo no longer was going to take a beating so easily. Finally succumbing to the idea that his intellect might not be all-knowing, he decided to finally use the face mask and crown to try and come up with some more intelligent tactics to use in battle.

Since Samus' attacks were primarily based around projectiles (since they were the only things that could penetrate the shield), Mewtwo figured that if he could somehow lodge a Shadow Ball into the firing mechanism of the cannon on Samus' arm, he could actually stop his chances of taking damage. For a moment, he grinned and readied to attempt his deviant plan by launching a Shadow Ball, while controlling it with the mental powers that he had over the attack.

As according to the deviant plan, the Shadow Ball became lodged in Samus' cannon, effectively rendering her projectile weapons useless. Again becoming cocky, Mewtwo thought that he was completely unbeatable, since Samus was unable to use her effective missiles and Charge Beam. Using his confidence as well as he could, Mewtwo charged after Samus and attacked her with some of his more powerful psychic attacks. They did significant damage to Samus, each attack causing her more agony than the last one.

When she had finally taken more damage than she thought she could bear, Samus actually laid down for a moment to hopefully recharge herself. Taking this as a sign of pure surrender, Mewtwo gloated, making sure to taunt Samus and tell her 'how completely useless' she was as a fighter and how 'she never stood a chance against "the Great Mewtwo."'

As Mewtwo continued to unwisely gloat, Samus rolled over and prepared to use her Charge Beam again. When she had sufficiently gathered enough energy into her cannon, she fired the shot, yelling (mostly in frustration and fury), "And eat this, Mewtwo!"

Not seeing the attack coming at first, Mewtwo was not only struck with the Charge Beam shot, but first he was struck with the power of his own Shadow Ball. The power of the two attacks was too much for Mewtwo to take, as he fell to the ground of the Final Destination in defeat.

Though it had previously seemed impossible to defeat the three of them, Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Link, and Samus were able to defeat the trio that had gathered the eleven items for their own selfish purposes. They felt they had successfully avoided the destruction that they had set out to defeat. However, that was where they were wrong.

As the last of the eleven items hit the floor, it seemed as if the face mask itself cried out, "You have been such fools to try and tame the power that lies inside of these items. Now you will not only pay for this foolishness with your lives, but you will also pay for it with the destruction of your world."

While these menacing words were being said, the eleven items floated in midair, seemingly suspended by some force unknown to any of the eight weak fighters gathered there. Slowly and deliberately they came together to form some kind of body.

The speed boots formed the feet and lower legs of the creature, while the leg guards became legs for the creature. Mewtwo's shield expanded somewhat in size to form the torso of the creature. The jetpack came around to the back of the creature. The cannon became its right arm and the sword became its left. Settling inside the torso, the Dark Triangle began to beat as a heart. The neck guard became the bridge from the torso to the neck. The Star Rod functioned to be the neck. The face mask grew into a full head with the former holes becoming a demonic shade of red. Finally, the crown came to rest upon the head of this creature.

The three villains who had gathered the items were somewhat dumbstruck; this was the creature that had seen in brief glimpses when they gathered the items. That power had grown somewhat progressively with the items, but this power was simply astounding; it caused even the overconfident Mewtwo to shiver in fear.

Again the creature spoke. Ominously, he told them, "Now it is time for you to face your greatest nightmares."


	12. The Rise of the Ancients

Grinning fiendishly, the beast saw that those gathered were already weak. When he saw Bowser, Mewtwo, and Ganondorf, he merely scoffed, because he knew that they were the ones who attempted to control his power. However, when his gaze landed upon the five that had opposed his power from the start, he widened his eyes: these were surely the descendants of those that had bested him three thousand years prior. The only difference between them was that these were not as hardened to defeat him, simply because they did not know his power.

He looked back, seeing the past for a moment. By the time the ancient heroes had reached him, they were in just as bad of shape as the five that were gathered. He again saw the five assembled, as the ones before him now were in identical stances, readying for battle. This time, he had a new trick up his sleeve; this time, the great Blade had the confidence and schemes to avoid his former mistakes.

Taunting the five bold heroes, he emitted, "Now you will face the wrath of the great Blade. Ancients, once my opponents, rise and do my bidding. Destroy these descendants of countless generations."

Upon Blade's command, from the floor of the Final Destination rose five warriors, each resembling one of the five heroes who stood before him. However, the difference between them in this case was that these opponents were not at all tired from numerous battles on their way to fight this evil; they were at full strength, and they seemed somehow stronger than their counterparts.

Only a few sparse details separated the ancients from their descendants. Both earlier Mario Brothers had no hats, and the ancient Luigi was the only one of the two to sport a mustache. Link's counterpart had no gauntlets and his boots were easily three times as worn. Donkey Kong's mirror had no hair on his right arm. Samus looked at her elder counterpart, seeing that the difference was that she handled only one arm cannon, possessing no other armor.

As if under a trance, these five ancients moved very mechanically, each against their respective descendant. Verily, these former heroes had fallen to Blade, in some extent before they sealed him away into the powerful items that he was composed of. Somehow, Blade had come to learn how to effectively control them soon after the system of guardians was created, and he intended to use their reanimated forms to do his bidding if they were deemed worthy.

Mario first squared off against his hatless primogenitor. Quickly, he fired a storm of fireballs, something that seemed to take his ancient form by surprise; perhaps, he had not learned the secret of throwing fireballs in his lifetime. Mario had a great hope that he could take an early advantage against this powerful fighter.

However, that didn't matter, as the older version of Mario kicked the fireball away and ran towards the current Mario, powerfully punching him as he ran by him. Then, showing great feats of strength, this Mario pummeled his descendant, knocking him into the ground. The shock of the impact knocked Mario skyward, and it was only on his way down that he regained consciousness.

Unfortunately, Mario opened his eyes, only to feel the powerful feel of a punch to hit him in the gut. Continuing to take damage, Mario almost felt that he was going to die at the hand of this ancestor of his. Still, he would not back down, even though he found it hard to return to his feet.

Biting down on his teeth with great difficulty, Mario raised his head, and revealed the great feeling of determination in his eyes. Even the ancient Mario was somewhat taken aback by the fire in his eyes. Taking full advantage of that opportunity, Mario charged his opponent and slammed into him with all the force that he could muster.

Having successfully thrown his opponent to the floor, Mario managed to augment the damage he dealt by also punching and kicking his opponent, capping everything off with a smash attack. While he waited to see how much damage he had dealt, Mario panted heavily with his hands resting upon his legs to try and help him remain standing. It would definitely be a hard battle afterwards.

Unfortunately for Mario, he was not lucky, as his opponent stood up easily, as if the damage of his attack had done nothing (or nothing worth much). Mario shook his head as he again forced himself to stand in a fighting stance. However, by the time he had done this, he saw the fist of his ancient ready to punch him right between the eyes. Without much reaction time available to him, Mario had no choice but to take the brunt of the attack.

As much as he tried, Mario could not recover from the blow of that attack; the ancient who had fought Blade many years ago was a better fighter in this bout. It seemed that the ancient was the better fighter. Even if Mario had returned to his feet, the ancient was hovering over him, as if he were willing to strike Mario while he was down. But, for some reason, Mario saw that something was not right with the ancient. It seemed to be breaking free of some kind of spell of control. Perhaps he saw something in his descendant and that something may have broken the control.

After Mario had been defeated, his ancient disappeared, leaving only its transparent form around. Then, at a time when Blade was not looking, the transparent ancient fused itself with Mario, granting him the energy he needed to fight Blade. One of the five was again ready; could the others end up with a similar success?

Link definitely had one of the tougher fights in front of him. Not only was he extremely weak from the self-destruct of the Zelda robot, but he had also taken significant damage in his battle with Ganondorf. However, this ancient version bore no signs of fatigue and there seemed to be a look of a better warrior in his eyes.

Quickly, Link decided to rush at his opponent, using his limited strength in a series of quick swipes and slashes with his mighty Master Sword. As powerful and skilled as Link's individual attacks were, the ancient was able to parry each attack as it came toward him with the same attack. Somehow, it seemed as if the parries of the attacks actually did more damage than the attacks were intended to do. Without a doubt, the ancient Link was stronger than the current Link in this state, but it was questionable of who was truly the stronger warrior.

With a look of pure business in his eyes, the ancient Link took advantage of Link's attacks by striking as soon as Link stopped his quick and powerful series of strikes. Swinging effectively, he successfully stabbed Link in the stomach, greatly wounding the powerful warrior again. He turned away for a moment, feeling that there was no way Link could return to his face.

After a long struggle, Link again managed to return to his feet. He knew that he was upon the last lengths of his strength, but he had the Triforce of Courage flowing through his veins, and that allowed him to never back down from adversity, no matter how high the odds were stacked against him. Seizing advantage of his opponent not paying attention, Link threw his boomerang at his ancient fighter.

Somehow sensing the flight of the object, the ancient leapt upwards and successfully avoided the boomerang. Turning quickly, he marched militarily at Link and held his sword like an instrument of death, ready to strike down the current hero. Even the greatly courageous Link couldn't help but feel pangs of great fear when seeing how this opponent of his charged toward him as if it didn't have a soul.

Link's hopes of the boomerang helping his situation out were vanquished when the ancient warrior struck at it from behind, deftly knocking the piece of wood down. Still, he was being charged toward by such a powerful opponent. However, Link would not back down, as he leapt into the air and attempted to land his sword into the skull of his opponent.

As every prior attack had ended, Link was parried, but this time, he lost the Master Sword. Without his sword, Link felt that he wouldn't be able to handle this opponent, but something strange happened when that warrior came in contact with the Master Sword. As the older Link grasped the familiar blade again, something came over his eyes and the sword itself seemed to free him from the grasp Blade had over him.

With that new look in his eyes, the older Link knelt down next to Link and placed his hand on Link's shoulder. Looking Link in the eyes, he said, "Thank you, because you have freed me from the wrath of Blade. You have the strength and determination that I hoped for in the past. Take my power and fight him."

Once the meaning of those words sunk into Link's mind, he saw that the ancient had faded into the air and suddenly, Link felt that he could again stand and fight again. After he checked, he saw that indeed his wounds were healed and he could again swing the Master Sword with the power he could before he was hurt; the Hylian warrior was again ready to fight at full strength.

All the while, Luigi was locked in battle with his ancient, and it seemed as if he didn't stand a chance. The ancient Luigi had an experience of battle and an aggressive nature that Luigi didn't have; Luigi was in well over his head, but that seemed to be the time that the young plumber dug in his heels and fought with a great strength.

Struggling to his feet time after time, Luigi showed that even though he was scared beyond all belief, he would not give up the fight so easily. Mario had always gotten the reputation of being the braver and stronger brother, and even though that was rightfully acquired, Luigi knew that in battle he would have to prove himself.

However, that was not what kept Luigi motivated to fight. Instead, the taunting battle cry of the ancient Luigi was what kept him getting up to continue the fight. If there was one thing that Luigi couldn't stand, it was when he was being attacked with mockery. It made the plumber's blood boil, and one time, as soon as he regained his footing, Luigi retaliated by firing his Green Missile. As luck would have it, this was an explosive shot and it shot the ancient back a ways.

Now Luigi had a legitimate battle on his hands and he knew that it was really going to be a tough fight. He squinted and clenched his fists for a moment. Running quickly at his opponent, Luigi ran and midair managed to kick the ancient Luigi right between the eyes. Feeling he had done something important, Luigi threw a few fireballs at his opponent.

However, the opponent merely brushed the fiery blasts aside with a wave of his hand, and, in direct retaliation to Luigi's first real attack, he delivered his own Green Missile. It may not have been an explosive shot, but the force of it was enough to knock Luigi back to his knees. Even before Luigi could return to his feet, the ancient was there, continuing to knock him down to his knees. Even Luigi could take only so much before he stopped trying to get up.

When the Italian plumber reached that state, he looked up at his ancient with a look that was a mixture of hatred and humanity. As the ancient readied to strike him again, Luigi delivered a punch with all the strength he had left. The shot hit his opponent right between the eyes and, for a moment, it stunned the ancient. However, that was all that Luigi had left in him, as he fell in a heap for the last time.

As had happened in the previous two fights, the ancient looked down, ready to make a finishing blow, but when he looked down to see the pathetic Luigi, he was able to remember his past and how similar it was to Luigi's. He had always wanted to be the strong one, but he had been eclipsed by how great of fighters the others he was with were. If he truly put his mind to it, he was just as good as his Mario, but he couldn't always do that; he simply wasn't Mario. Remembering that, the ancient Luigi sighed and told himself, "He's just like me. I'm giving him the chance I never had."

Though Luigi didn't notice it, as he was unconscious, he was endowed with the strength of this Luigi. Somehow, Luigi was given somewhat greater strength than he had had before any of the fighting had occurred. He had finally inherited the fighting spirit of his ancient counterpart.


	13. The Final Two Ancients

As all this was going on, Donkey Kong was engaged in a battle of strength with his ancient

As all this was going on, Donkey Kong was engaged in a battle of strength with his ancient. For a while, both apes were at a stalemate, but then the weight of constant battle and travel finally got to DK; he was finally down to the last bit of his strength. Even though he had fought well before, he was pushed down to the ground quickly.

The older monkey quickly moved in to make some strong attacks, quickly punching DK, then slapping him a distance away. However, Donkey Kong wouldn't fail in his bout that easily, as he got up and brushed himself off, loosening his tie in the process. He may not have been at full strength, but he knew that if he could maintain his form in battle, he still had a chance at this older incarnation of himself.

Quickly, he charged at the ancient and leapt into the air, hoping to be able to deliver a powerful midair attack. However, before that attack could be commenced, DK was hit with a similarly strong attack from his ancient, clapping his open palms together over the stunned ape hovering over him. Again, DK was sent backwards, trying to recover from the brunt of the attack he sustained.

However, as soon as he got to his feet, Donkey Kong was hit with a powerful punch, a wound-up thrust. Before he could do much to try and defend himself, he flew nearly off of the platform he was fighting on. However, at the last second, he jumped in midair and was able to just grab the edge of the platform, effectively saving not only his chances in the fight, but also his life.

He narrowed his eyes in anger and quickly growled, letting his opponent know that he wouldn't go down that easily; he was Donkey Kong, and he would have to win the fight on his own terms. He again approached his ancient, but this time he moved slowly along, waiting to strike until he had an opportunity. Though he knew that he was a powerful fighter, he knew that he had already taken heavy damage and that a single blow of significant proportions would lead to his defeat.

Seeing his chance, Donkey Kong pounded the ground with his open palms, causing a minor quake, strong enough to lift his ancient into the air. After he saw that his opponent was skyward, Donkey Kong ran under where his opponent would be and delivered the same attack that had been used against him to incapacitate his opponent; he clapped his hands into the falling form of the ancient Donkey Kong.

While the ancient was still in midair, DK leapt and kicked him off to the side, figuring that he should continue to keep his distance while having suffered so much damage. However, when the ancient rose to his feet again, he was infuriated by having taken so much damage from the supposedly weaker fighter; he would no longer hold anything back in this fight.

However, Donkey Kong did not realize that the ancient had been somewhat holding back in the fight. With all the damage he had sustained, Donkey Kong figured that the ancient had given every ounce of strength into the fight, wishing to nearly kill him.

The ancient almost recklessly charged at DK, only to be met with the strength of a fully wound-up punch. However, the attack did not hit, as the ancient simply stopped in his tracks, leading the punch to fall just short of connecting. Instead, he slammed his head into DK, knocking him into the ground. When Donkey Kong returned from his stunned state, he was met with the slapping hands of the ancient.

Though the blast did not force DK off of the platform, they did stop him from getting up; the damage he accumulated was just too much. If it had been his first fight, DK would have easily gotten up, and probably would have won the fight. However, he was done and had no more energy left inside of him.

The ancient looked, mockingly, into Donkey Kong's eyes, hoping to see a crushed spirit, an easy opponent to defeat. However, he still saw a fighter with a fighter's eyes, only held back by a weakened body. The ancient suddenly snapped out of his mechanical mindset of trying to kill the opponent; he returned to the ancient he was when he fought Blade so many years ago.

Laying his hand on DK's shoulder, he simply turned and seemed to change into thin air, becoming nothing more than a fading dust. However, Donkey Kong felt that he could again fight, as he leapt back up to his feet, ready to do battle with the despicable Blade that had so corrupted those that had sealed him away, many years before.

There was just one more fight with an ancient, and that was Samus' fight with her ancient. The young bounty hunter faced the older and lesser-equipped ancient warrior. It was relatively obvious that the ancient Samus would be the faster fighter, as she was the one without the bulky armor.

Nonetheless, Samus was surprisingly quick in her Power Suit. She charged and then delivered a flying kick at her opponent. It took very quick reflexes for the ancient Samus to dodge the armored Samus' attack. However, it almost seemed as if the ancient smirked after seeing how the dodged attack left Samus open for attack.

Firing a quick missile into Samus' back, the ancient figured that if she could attack Samus' armor, then a weakness might occur and the armor might malfunction, causing most of Samus' attempts at battle would soon crumble. However, the one missile was not enough for that plan to come to fruition, and both fighters knew that; Samus' Power Suit would need to take nearly enough damage for Samus to die to break.

Samus quickly shook her head and again looked at her opponent. Though her entire face could not be seen, the visible sight of her eyes showed that she was completely infuriated, and would stop at nothing to destroy her opponent. Samus was a ruthless warrior, and, when agitated, she became even more dangerous; that time had again come.

Of all the battles against the ancients, Samus had the best chance to defeat her counterpart. Not only was she still well-protected with her able Power Suit, but she also had the most stamina remaining of the five warriors. Still, how a fight would look on paper didn't always mean something; after all, the extremely weakened Link was able to give DK what he needed to win his fight.

Samus and her ancient kept their distances from each other, firing missiles and weak Charge Shot blasts at each other. Those that didn't cancel out in midair were easily dodged in anticipation of firing more shots. Finally, the ancient Samus made a charge, willing to try to avoid three missiles in the attempt to make an attack. While she couldn't avoid all three, the damage the one missile did was minimal enough to not stop her momentum, as she was able to perform the flying kick that Samus had attempted to execute earlier.

Though the ancient Samus did not have the added advantage of armor to strengthen the effect of physical attacks, her kick to the abdomen of Samus still caused some slight sting of damage, but not enough to start to slow Samus. Leaping up, Samus was able to throw her arm cannon at the ancient, knocking her head with the force of cold metal. Samus' aggressive nature had finally given her opponent some truly significant damage.

However, as was expected, the ancient decided to strengthen her efforts in fighting Samus, especially after taking a relatively powerful attack like that. At close range, she unleashed a secret Charge Shot blast that was at full strength. After the blast hit Samus squarely in the helmet, she was thrown considerably backwards.

Samus again got up and brushed herself off. Before she returned to combat, she checked the power levels of the various parts of her suit, knowing that this ancient had more tricks up its sleeve. When she checked, Samus saw that she had taken the most damage to the leg circuits; if she took much more damage to them, she would be nothing more than a sitting duck. Taking that damage into consideration, she leapt back into battle.

The ancient Samus also figured that the legs would be Samus' weak point, and it ran toward her and tried to slide tackle her. Samus would have none of that, as she leapt into midair and avoided the strike. When she landed, Samus turned and fired a missile at the ancient, hitting her as she returned to her feet. The ancient took the full brunt of the attack as soon as she stood up, drawing her head back with the whiplash of the blast. On her way down, she was able to release another powerful Charge Shot blast, again at full power. Samus did her best to avoid the powerful shot, but it seemed as if the shot were following her, because it rose as she leapt upward to try and avoid it.

When she landed after the blast and checked her power levels, Samus' worst fears were realized when she saw that the circuits to the legs of her Power Suit were completely shut down by the power of the blast; she was the sitting duck she feared she would be. Luckily, Samus was still facing her ancient, so she could still take shots at it with her missiles and charge shots.

When the ancient recovered, she smiled maliciously and charged at Samus. Even though a large number of quick missiles were fired at her, she wasn't hit by any of them as she leapt and delivered a flying kick right into Samus' helmet. The blast was powerful enough to break the visor, but it was too low to do so; instead her helmet was knocked off.

For a moment, the ancient Samus got a look at the current Samus' face. Though she was a proven warrior, Samus' look of murder had resigned to one of fear. With her Power Suit dead from the waist down, she couldn't escape from it, as the binding of the suit was too powerful to break so easily. When the ancient saw this, she paused in her tracks a moment. In that moment, Samus fired one last weak Charge Shot blast, and that was enough to knock a small chip off of the ancient's shoulder.

With that chip gone, the ancient looked upon Samus with a look of pity and said, "You are a valiant warrior, Samus. Fight this monster and take him down with all your power." As she said that, she seemed to turn into a transparent form, and as that form descended upon Samus, she saw that full power returned to the Power Suit, as well as to her. The final ancient had sent her power to protect the fifth warrior return to full power.

When all five warriors stood again at full strength, Blade looked at them with a mixture of surprise and hatred. No one had vanquished his minions since the five ancients sealed him away into the eleven items that he was composed of. Somehow these warriors assembled against him were back to the full strength that they were at before they started their adventure, if not stronger than ever before. He knew that they could give him as tough a battle as he had ever had, and he was not going to let that defeat come at all, if he could help it.


	14. Blade Part 1

Before any of the five united against him could muster an attack, Blade leapt into the air and sustained his altitude with the jetpack

Before any of the five united against him could muster an attack, Blade leapt into the air and sustained his altitude with the jetpack. He felt that he could not be touched from such a height, so he mocked them, saying, "Try and touch me now!" To further his pompous rant, he fired his cannon a great number of times in succession.

With that maneuver, Blade succeeded in scattering the five assembled against him, but that didn't mean that they didn't have some sort of plan. Making some gestures, Samus directed the plan to countervail the cannon blasts. From those directions, the five leapt away and attempted to execute the plan.

Luigi quickly got on his brother and DK's shoulders, setting him up for a powered up Green Missile. However, Blade saw that coming, and he subsequently turned his attention to the green plumber. Firing a round of cannon shots at Luigi, Blade sent the frontal attack down in a matter of seconds. However, as soon as he fired that shot that took down Luigi, he was thrust forward by the recoil of a missile blast.

"What…just…happened?" he cried in an anguished attempt to make sense of the scenario.

"You didn't cover your back, fool," Samus coolly mocked. From behind Blade, Link had thrown Samus into the air and as a result, she was able to get the altitude that she needed to fire a missile of her own into the back of Blade's jetpack, effectively rendering the overworked item worthless.

Though he was furious, Blade was not surprised, because the first five to take him down used a similar strategy: taking out the jetpack first. However, they had not done so much damage to the powerful item.

Expressing his rage, Blade bellowed, "You may have dealt the first blow, but you cannot touch me, not so long as your swordsman is out of commission." With that, blade rushed over to Link through the power of his speed boots and stabbed him right through his stomach, knocking him out.

Though this did not seem to be a good sign, the other four did not seem ready to give in the fight. Though Link's powers as a fighter and a Triforce wielder would be missed, they had a secondary plan.

Getting to his feet quickly, Luigi ran away from the fight, leaving only three to try and combat Blade. Scorning his opponents, Blade said, "Well, at least one of you has made the right decision, getting out of here. Maybe the other three of you will come to your senses and follow suit."

However, the intensity of the other three was not diminished, but rather strengthened by Blade's foul words. It was a challenge, not of pride, but of strength, and they would take none of it. Blade's end was soon at hand.

Rushing in first, Donkey Kong leapt into the air, and delivered his most powerful punch to the crown of Blade's head. Not only did he achieve his end of knocking off another of the items (the crown), but he disproved Blade's idea that he was invincible without Link fully conscious. There was just something about that group that would never say die, and they could overcome the odds if they felt they could.

After taking such a strong blow, Blade retreated somewhat, only slightly hovering above the ground because of the small wings on the speed boots, trying to make sense of the situation. He still had nine items and they only had three fighters that could participate against him.

Before the evil fiend could consider another plan of action, he had to dodge a small barrage of Samus' missiles and Mario's fireballs. Though they were easy to dodge individually, the small attacks began to add up, and Blade took some small damage, but the shield absorbed the damage, shrinking slightly with each blow.

From there, Mario got an idea, and he relayed it to his comrades. They quickly used cheaper attacks in rapid fashion, attempting to constrict the shield around the Dark Triangle. They knew the shield would not break, but perhaps it would contract enough to constrict the Dark Triangle. Fireballs and missiles, coupled with quick punches slowly minimized the size of the shield, lessening its power. As the attacks began to affect it more, Blade's eyes seemed to squeeze slightly with pain.

Eventually, Blade would take no more of this, and he swung with his sword in an attempt to rid himself of his close-range opponents. However powerful the strike was, it was countered with one of DK's powerful punches. Since he did not have any projectile attacks, DK was forced to try and use his fists to fight. The small but continuous barrage of attacks from Mario and Samus had finally broken through and constricted the Dark Triangle.

As the mighty weapon came under the strain of the shield, the Dark Triangle sent out a blast of dark energy, sending out a signal to the other Triforce holders. Slowly, but surely, Link regained consciousness and returned to his feet. Wiping his brow with his arm, he readied himself to fight again, somehow nearly back to normal strength again.

Once again, Blade fired a barrage of cannon shots in the vicinity of the four standing heroes. However, none of the attacks were able to do any damage, as the four had learned Blade's pattern and simply maneuvered around the blasts. And soon again, Blade found himself under the fire of a number of quick attacks, trying to avoid further damage.

When he tried to wipe his opponents away with a sword strike, he was met with something that he hadn't expected to find. A green, burning attack lodged itself into the hilt of Blade's nearly indestructible sword, and knocked it away from the ancient fiend. Returning to the ground, Luigi brushed himself off and flashed a thumbs-up to his other four fighters.

Blade stood back, looking in disbelief. He thought that when he had taken out Link that he would not be able to fight again in the fight, but here he was in as good of shape as he was before he got taken down. Once Luigi ran away, he swore that he wouldn't return to the fight at all, but here he was, dislodging the sword. Not only that, but Luigi had returned with all of the other fighters, ready to do their part should one of the five go down. Perhaps these few fighters stood a chance against the mighty behemoth of ages past; perhaps he had underestimated them.

"Blade," Mewtwo taunted from the sidelines, "You're going down. I saw your power at its best, and these five are stronger than that. You don't stand a ghost's chance anymore."

Gathering confidence from those powerful words of confidence, the five looked at Blade, down three items, and thought that they would still have a chance against him. The one key to victory was in their ability to remove a few more or Blade's legendary items. If they could remove them from the three different opponents, why couldn't they remove them from the one Blade?


	15. Blade's End

Blade's massive pride, however, would not let him think that he could be beaten by anything less than the five ancients who had defeated him before, and it was only by a stroke of luck that these five had been able to defeat their ancients

Blade's massive pride, however, would not let him think that he could be beaten by anything less than the five ancients who had defeated him before, and it was only by a stroke of luck that these five had been able to defeat their ancients. He thought…he hoped that they couldn't be stronger.

In the brief time Blade spent in an awe-inspired shock, Link fitted an arrow to his bow and hit his target: the opening for an eye in the face mask. The great fiend recoiled in pain as the red of his right eye faded to a much paler shade, and he couldn't see out of the eye. If he wasn't purely furious before, Blade's anger and frustration culminated in the greatest amount of fury seen by the gathered fighters.

Charging, Blade moved in and fired a barrage of shots from his cannon. However, in his blind rage, Blade's aim suffered horribly, and the trajectory of the shots were easily detectable. Quickly, each of the five moved away. Blade again cursed himself and furthered his great frustration with the five fighters gathered.

Link again fitted an arrow to his bow and shot at Blade. Once again, the arrow hit home and lodged itself into Blade's other eye. Effectively, Link had blinded the mighty Blade, and with that, it looked as if the five might be able to take down the rest of Blade rather swiftly. Strangely, despite being blinded completely, Blade's rage did not continue to accrue, but it rather began to subside.

Rapidly, the Mario brothers rushed over to Blade's speed boots, attempting to burn them to ashes. The immediate effect of such an attack only weakened the items, but they were not completely destroyed by such a series of attacks. However, Samus fired a Charge Shot blast at one of the boots, as Donkey Kong gave a mighty punch to the other boot. The end result culminated in the destruction of the one boot to ashes and the firing away of the other boot. Should anyone try to reassemble the items of Blade again in the future, such a venture would be incomplete because of the missing boot.

However, it was at this time that Blade reacquired his eyesight. Though Link's arrows were mighty in their own right, they could not permanently blind Blade. For a moment, he noticed that Samus had her back to him, so he took the time to aim a sniping blast at her head. Blade's aim was sharp, as the blast headed perfectly for the back of her head. Despite the perfect trajectory, Samus noticed the blast, tilting her head to the left to avoid the shot.

Turning around, Samus noticed Blade's cooler demeanor, but she still fired a missile at him. He, in turn fired a shot from his cannon to cancel out the momentum of the missile. Blade chuckled darkly, knowing what he attempted to do would be almost completely foolproof.

Blade looked to the five gathered to fight him, and he said, "Come on, why don't you take out my legs now?" Blade knew that he would actually be a stronger opponent without his stubs of legs now, but the question would be if they could figure that out before they struck.

Samus attempted to dissuade her comrades from taking out Blade's legs, but it was to no avail. DK smashed the one leg guard in with a massive punch, and meanwhile Luigi fired his Green Missile at the other leg. Effectively, they had severed the makeshift legs that Blade had taunted them to remove.

However, neither of the two hasty attackers realized how quickly they had walked into Blade's trap. Even though the shield mostly was used as a protector for the Dark Triangle, its spherical nature allowed him to use his torso as a wheel of sorts. Immediately, he steamrolled those two, while temporarily paralyzing them.

Blade had again regained his belief that he would prevail in the fight, now with his eyesight again perfect and his rage finally under control. He laughed mockingly at Mario, Link, and Samus, but that was met with the force of one of Samus' missiles directed at his throat. The blast was so sudden that Blade did not realize it until the blast had done its damage. Blade had instantly lost his neck guard, but he did not mind. (He found it to be the most useless of his items.)

With the cannon still in Blade's possession, he was extremely dangerous. Rolling toward the standing three, Blade fired his cannon with precision and nearly deadly accuracy. However, his shots were still avoided since the three knew where the shots would be and knew how to avoid them.

Link managed to jump behind Blade, hoping that he could do some damage to him from behind. However, Blade realized Link's plan, and he used his position to turn around and fire several shots at Link. As great of a warrior as Link was, he could not successfully avoid all the shots that Blade fired at him, so he subsequently was out of the fight for a while.

So Mario figured out a strategy for taking out Blade's cannon, but it would take a good deal of luck. He whispered it to Samus, and she agreed to try and help him bring his plan to fruition. Mario quickly charged Blade, unimaginably rolling left and right out of the way of each blast from the cannon. Samus, meanwhile, attempted to distract Blade by trying to get behind him (unsuccessfully). When Mario was mere inches away from the cannon, he used the power of his flaming hand, attempting to clog the cannon.

Quickly, the plumber retreated. When Blade again attempted to fire a shot from his cannon, he found that the fireball ground inside his weapon was too much for the item to withstand. From its internal pressure, the cannon broke in half and subsequently fell off of Blade, rendering it useless. He was down to a mere four of his eleven items.

Staggering to their feet, Luigi, DK, and Link regained consciousness and again entered into the fight against Blade. No matter how hard he tried, it seemed that he could not deal with the fighting spirit that these five fighters had. They were again nowhere near their full potential or stamina, but their desire to win and save their world was enough to have only death stop them from getting back into the fight.

The next part of Blade to try and destroy definitely was the shield. It housed the Dark Triangle, which was a part that the five fighters knew was integral to his success. All five rushed the shield, attempting to destroy it by breaking the shield. Blade, as much as he tried to avoid contact by rolling out of the way, could not evade the five for too long. They quickly delivered a barrage of small, quick attacks and managed to constrict the shield.

Eventually, the small blows to constrict the shield added up. The mighty shield that had once been invincible due to Blade's greatly evil might finally started to crumble against the five fighters set against him. Soon enough, the item cracked as the shield broke and was once again considered completely useless. Blade was down to only the face mask, Dark Triangle, and Star Rod.

Though it may not have seemed likely, Blade was in his most powerful form to the average fighter. No longer bound by the cumbrous shield, the Dark Triangle gave him the power to hover in midair. The great fiend finally utilized the Star Rod with its original purpose in mind: the granting of wishes. Blade's choice was to have unlimited energy. However, despite how mighty Blade was in this form, he was definitely in his most fragile form; if any one of the last three items was destroyed, so was Blade.

Blade mocked the gathered fighters, "You fools; you've unleashed my most powerful form, and there's nothing you can do to stop me this time." He seriously believed that he was invincible, but he had forgotten a few things.

Link suddenly gained a meditative pose, chanting something and clenching his left hand in a fist, extended towards the sky. "Zelda, Ganondorf!" he cried out, "Now!" Immediately, the Triforce shards of the three holders began to glow; then the great relic materialized, surrounding the Dark Triangle and rendering it useless.

Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi stood, seemingly praying while focusing on the Star Rod. Since the power of the Star Rod was determined by the wishes of others, dependant on the stars, the Mario Brothers were focused on diffusing the power of the Star Rod by calling on the stars that could cancel its power. The star spirits managed to appear and diffuse the mighty Star Rod's power.

Finally, Donkey Kong whispered something to Samus, and she nodded in agreement. The ape wound up for his strongest punch, ready to take down the ferocious fiend in his weakened state. He leapt into the air as Samus fired one last Charge Shot blast, propelling him towards the face mask. His forward momentum, coupled with the power of his punch, was able to give him the boost he needed to punch the face mask off of the Star Rod. His punch hit Blade squarely between the eye holes, severing the head of Blade.

The demonic, red eyes of Blade faded away to nothingness, as the items returned to their original state. Somehow, the destruction of the world had been avoided, and all five fighters breathed heavily, trying to regain their senses. Eventually the effect of what they had done sunk in to them, and they smiled faintly behind the exhaustion.

Link rushed over to find Zelda, hoping that she was all right. He quickly breathed a sigh of relief upon finding her safe. He smiled in his weary state, thinking, 'I'm glad that she's all right after all.' But Link did not stop there, as he ran, embraced her, and kissed her softly.

Mario and Luigi slapped hands and gave each other thumbs up. "Luigi," Mario said, "I'm proud of you. You did more than I ever thought you could do." The elder brother smiled sincerely while he told his brother that.

Luigi's face lit up, and he said, "Oh yeah! Thanks, Mario." Nothing could stop that green plumber again.

Donkey Kong pounded his chest, proud of his accomplishments in battle. Finding three faces in the crowd, he squeezed them, simply because he needed an outlet for his unbridled joy.

Samus, simply because she was the least vocal of the five, simply muttered to herself, "Mission accomplished," and started to walk away from the crowd.

However, the exuberant Luigi stopped her and said, "Thanks, Samus. We couldn't have done anything without you. You were awesome."

Samus removed her helmet, and a smile slowly crept across her face. Samus, then, joined in the celebration with the many fighters near the Final Destination platform. The platform, however, was heavily damaged from the constant combat, but in time, it may have returned to fighting status.

Still, something did not seem right. From the distance, it seemed that someone had been watching the fight between Blade and the five fighters. However, the fighters of the universe did not notice him. He escaped, hoping to eventually bring Blade back, despite the destruction of the one boot.

As that figure left, the crowd continued to celebrate, touting the five standing heroes as the greatest warriors to ever live. They, as their ancestors had done 3000 years previously, had defeated and sealed away the seemingly-invincible Blade. Things seemed very good indeed.


End file.
